I     LIBRARY 


clTY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 


SAN  DIEGO        ; 


Jb 


Copyright  by  Harris   &   Ewing 

The  supreme  test  of  the  nation  has  come, 
and  serve  together  I 


We  must  all  speak,  act, 
— Woodrow  Wilson. 


PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

GREAT    SPEECHES 

AND    OTHER 
HISTORY  MAKING  DOCUMENTS 


'  The  world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy. ' ' 

Woodrow  Wilson. 


CHICAGO 


PUBLISHERS 


Copyright  1917, 1918, 1919 
8TANTON  &  VAN  VLIET  CO. 


CONTENTS 


PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  GREAT  SPEECHES 

PAGE 

Introduction 7 

The  Famous  War  Message  to  Congress,  April  2,  1917. 11 

The  Declaration  of  War  with  Germany 23 

Text  of  the  Joint  Resolution  of  Congress,  April  6. 
President    Wilson's    Address     to    His    Fellow-Countrymen, 

April  16 24 

The  Army  Draft  Law — Essential  Provisions 30 

President's  Proclamation  Setting  Date  of  Registration   for 

the  Draft 33 

Statement  Declining  Col.  Roosevelt's  Offer  to  Raise  Volunteer 

Divisions  for  Immediate  Service 36 

Statement  on  the  Food-Control  Program  of  the  Government. .     39 
American   Neutrality — Statement   by   the   President,   August 

19,  1914 43 

Address  to  Congress  on  Raising  Additional  Revenue,  Septem- 
ber 4,  1914 46 

Annual  Address  (Message)  to  Congress,  December  8,  1914...     50 

Address  at  Flag-Day  Exercises,  June  14,  1915 64 

Address  at  G.  A.  R.  Celebration,  September  26,  1915 68 

Address  to  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  October 

'    11,  1915... 72 

3 


CONTENTS 

PACK 

Address  to   Congress,  December   7,  1915,  Including 
Historic  Remarks  on  Disloyalty  Within  the  Nation. .     79 

The  Submarine  Peril— Address  to  Congress,  April  19,  1916..  lOt 

President  Wilson's  Inner  Self  Revealed — Address  at  National 

Press  Club,  May  15,  1916 107 

Address  to  the  League  to  Enforce  Peace,  May  27,  1916 117 

On  Abraham  Lincoln's  Birthplace — Address  at  Hodgenville, 

Kentucky,  September  4,  1916 122 

Preventing  a  Great  Railroad  Strike — Address  to  Congress  on 

the  Threatening  Situation,  August  29,  1916 127 

Annual  Address  to  Congress,  December  5,  1916 136 

Last  Hopes  of  Peace  with  Germany — Address  to  the  United 

States  Senate,  January  22,  1917 144 

Letter  from  President  Wilson,  May  22,  1917,  on  the  Causes 

of  the  War 153 

Diplomatic  Relations  Broken — Address  to  Congress,  February 

3,  1917 154 

The  War   Clouds   Thicken — Address   to   Congress,   February 

26,  1917 16t 

Second  Inaugural  Address,  March  5,  1917 166 

Advice    to    New    Citizens — Address    at    Philadelphia,    May 

10,  1915 171 

First  Address   to   Congress,   Delivered   at   a  Joint   Session, 

April  8,  1913 176 

First  Inaugural  Address,  March  4,  1913 180 

On  Mexican  Affairs — Address  to  Congress,  August  27,  1913. . .  186 

At  Independence  Hall — Address  in  Philadelphia,  July  4, 1914. .  194 

President  Wilson  on  Censorship  of  the  Press 204 


CONTENTS  5 

HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

PACK 

[Restraints  of  United  States  Commerce — First  Proclamation  of 

the  German  Admiralty  Declaring  a  Naval  War  Zone. .   205 

The  American  Protest 20fl 

Secretary  Bryan  to  Ambassador  Gerard. 

Use  of  American  Flag  by  British  Ships 209 

Ambassador  Page  to  the  Secretary  of  State. 

American  Proposal  for  Agreement  as  to  Neutral  Ships 211 

Identic  Note  to  England  and  Germany. 

The  German  Reply  (Translation) 314 

Ambassador  Gerard  to  the  Secretary  of  State. 

British  Statement  on  Submarine  Warfare 217 

The  British  Ambassador  to  the  Secretary  of  State. 

Bejoinder  of  the  United  States 219 

Secretary  Bryan  to  Ambassador  Page. 

The  Attitude  of  France 222 

Ambassador  Sharp  to  the  Secretary  of  State. 

British  Charges  Against  Germany 226 

Ambassador  Page  to  the  Secretary  of  State  (Memoran- 
dum from  Sir  Edward  Grey). 

Sales  of  Munitions — The  Policy  of  the  United  States 231 

Secretary  Bryan  to  the  German  Ambassador. 

When  the  Lusitania  Was  Sunk — First  Note  of  Protest 235 

Secretary  Bryan  to  Ambassador  Gerard. 

Verdict  of  Coroner 's  Jury  in  the  Lusitania  Case 240 

German  Statement  on  the  Lusitania  Sinking 241 

British  Eeply  to  the  Foregoing 242 

Second  Lusitania  Note  to  Germany 245 

Secretary  of  State  ad  Interim  to  Ambassador  Gerard. 

Germany's  Eeply  a  Month  Later 251 

The  American  Rejoinder , 259 

Secretary  Lansing  to  Ambassador  Gerard. 


g  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Germany's  Broken  Agreement  Respecting  Submarines 262 

Recall  of  Ambassador  Dumba  of  Austria 262 

Recall  of  German  Attaches 264 

The  Diplomatic  Correspondence. 

Submarines  and  Armed  Merchantmen 267 

Informal  and  Confidential  Letter  to  the  Belligerent  Powers. 

Sinking  of  the  "Sussex" 272 

First  Threat  to  Sever  Diplomatic  Relations  with  Germany. 

Facts  in  the  "Sussex"  Case 279 

Peace  Note  to  the  Powers 280 

Secretary  of  State  to  Ambassador  Page. 

British  Answer  to  American  Peace  Note 284 

Memorandum  from  the  British  Embassy. 

The  German  Answer 290 

Note  from  Foreign  Minister  Zimmerman. 

Germany 's  Last  Memorandum 291 

German  Ambassador  to  Secretary  of  State. 

Conditions  of  Safety  for  American  Ships 294 

Diplomatic  Relations  Severed 296 

Secretary  Lansing  to  Ambassador  von  Bernstorff. 

American  Minister  Whitlock  Withdrawn  from  Belgium 300 

Statement  Given  to  the  Press  March  24,  1917. 

Allied  Agreement  to  Make  No  Separate  Peace  with  Germany. .  302 

Act  of  Congress  Providing  for  the  ' '  Liberty  Loan  " 303 

The  President's  Note  to  Russia  Stating  Our  War  Aims 309 

M.  Viviani's  Speech  to  House  of  Representatives 313 

Address  of  the  Prince  of  Udine 316 

Remarks  of  Right  Hon.  Arthur  J.  Balfour 321 

Facsimile  Signatures  of  Members  of  the  "War  Congress". . . .  324 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 

President  Wilson's  Eeply  to  the  Second  Peace  Plea  of  the 

Pope,  August  27,  1917 324 

President  Wilson 's  Address  to  the  Annual  Convention  of  the 
American  Federation  of  Labor  at  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  Novem- 
ber 12,  1917 328 

President  Wilson's  Address   to   Congress,  Proclaiming  the 

War  Aims  of  the  United  States,  January  8,  1918 339 

President  Wilson's  Third  Liberty  Loan  Speech,  Baltimore, 

Md.,  April  6,  1918 349 

The  President  Announces  His  Intention  to  Go  to  Paris 355 

The  Four  Points  Supplementing  the  Fourteen  Principles. . .  .   373 

Five  Fundamentals  for  a  League  of  Nations 389 

President  Wilson 's  Speech  in  Eome 399 

The  President 's  Paris  Speech 403 

His  Speech  to  the  Troops  in  France 409 

President  Wilson 's  London  Speech 412 

League  or  Eebellion,  Wilson  Warns 418 


PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 
GREAT  SPEECHES 


INTRODUCTION 

The  public  addresses  and  state  papers  of  Woodrow 
Wilson  will  undoubtedly  occupy  a  place  of  pre-eminence 
among  the  historical  records  of  the  American  nation. 
Posterity  will  fix  their  final  value,  but  we  of  the  present 
know  and  appreciate  their  importance  in  this  most  crit- 
ical period  of  the  world's  history.  No  messages  to  the 
American  people,  no  diplomatic  documents,  were  ever 
more  fraught  with  interest  to  the  average  citizen,  or 
touched  more  closely  the  lives  and  liberties  of  our  myriad 
population. 

Humanity  itself  is  deeply  concerned  with  the  subject- 
matter  and  the  text  of  President  Wilson's  utterances 
since  the  Great  War  began.  That  is  the  keynote  of  many 
of  these  historic  addresses  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  public  speeches  on  various  occasions,  and  diplo- 
matic notes  to  belligerent  powers,  which  have  been  care- 
fully culled  from  a  great  mass  of  available  material  for 
the  purposes  of  this  volume.  Regard  for  the  best  inter- 
ests of  humanity  being  their  noble  theme,  they  will  ever 
be  read  by  American  citizens  with  patriotic  pride. 

On  the  declaration  by  Congress  of  the  existence  of  a 
state  of  war  between  the  United  States  and  Germany — 
this  nation  of  a  hundred  and  ten  million  peace-loving 
and  democratic  people  aligned  itself  with  practical  soli- 

7 


8  INTRODUCTION 

darity  behind  its  great  leader  in  the  "White  House.  The 
strife  of  parties  for  political  supremacy  was  laid  aside 
as  of  minor  consequence  in  a  time  of  grave  national 
danger.  Patriotism  became  the  sole  standard  of  public 
action.  Americans  realized  that  there  was  in  the  White 
House  not  only  a  great  man  and  a  great  President,  but 
also  a  great  patriot,  whose  leadership  it  was  a  solemn 
duty  to  follow. 

Marvelously  patient  as  the  President  was  during  the 
earlier  period  of  the  European  struggle  and  the  first 
stages  of  German  ruthlessness ;  greatly  as  he  desired  to 
maintain  an  honorable  peace  and  to  keep  his  country  out 
of  war,  he  did  not  hesitate  when  the  issue  was  finally 
forced  upon  him.  The  man  of  peace  became  a  man  of 
war,  confident  in  the  right,  and  in  language  that  no  pa- 
triot can  misunderstand  or  fail  to  echo  in  his  heart  of 
hearts,  Mr.  Wilson  gave  to  the  world  his  most  perfect 
reasons  for  drawing  the  sword  in  the  cause  of  humanity. 

As  he  himself  declared  in  the  address  to  Congress  that 
prefaced  the  declaration  of  war,  "The  world  must  be 
made  safe  for  democracy.'*  This  memorable  address, 
that  carried  hope  and  encouragement  to  the  nations  across 
the  sea  fighting  for  a  lasting  peace,  is  fittingly  reproduced 
at  the  beginning  of  this  book,  where  it  stands  as  an 
undying  exposition  of  the  unanswerable  reasons  for  our 
conflict  with  Germany. 

Seldom  if  ever  has  a  President  of  the  United  States 
been  called  on  to  face  responsibilities  as  great  as  those 
which  have  confronted  Mr.  Wilson.  It  is  sufficient  to 
say  here  that  Woodrow  Wilson  has  risen  superior  to  every 
emergency  and  has  at  his  back  a  united  nation,  imbued 
to  the  core  with  confidence  in  his  leadership. 

Regarded  from  whatever  standpoint  they  may  be, 
President  Wilson's  state  papers  were  models  of  interna- 


INTRODUCTION  9 

tional  propriety,  and  will  live  in  history  as  such.  His 
speeches  were  enlightening,  because  so  far  as  was  pos- 
sible he  took  the  people  into  his  confidence  as  the  grave 
international  situation  developed  from  time  to  time. 
Hence  these  papers  and  addresses  furnish  a  wonderful 
political  history  of  the  Great  War  in  its  relation  to  the 
interests  of  the  United  States. 

Underlying  all  of  Mr.  "Wilson's  addresses  there  is  evi- 
dence of  his  sincere  conviction  that  his  country  has  a 
nobler  mission  to  perform  for  civilization  than  that  of 
merely  safeguarding  its  own  material  interests,  impor- 
tant as  that  consideration  is  to  every  American  citizen. 
"The  world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy."  And 
the  civilized  world  looks  to  America  to  help  make  it  safe. 
That  is  the  idea  which  Mr.  Wilson  realizes  and  has  made 
plain  to  his  fellow-countrymen  in  his  addresses.  To  read 
and  study  them  is  a  patriotic  duty. 

Sincerity  is  another  keynote  of  all  the  War  President's 
utterances.  Every  American  knows  that  Mr.  Wilson 
was  convinced  almost  against  his  will  of  the  necessity 
for  war.  But  the  very  sincerity  that  marked  his  efforts 
to  keep  the  country  out  of  war  compelled  his  final  action 
and  prompted  his  determination  to  win  the  war. 

Seldom  if  ever  has  a  series  of  speeches  and  documents 
like  those  in  the  following  pages  been  so  replete  with  sig- 
nificance or  so  clearly  expressed.  Even  in  the  diplo: 
matic  exchanges  which  have  been  selected  for  reproduc- 
tion there  is  a  remarkable  absence  of  the  ambiguity  usual 
in  such  documents.  Hence  their  contents  will  appeal 
to  the  average  patriotic  reader  as  well  as  to  the  student 
of  current  history  and  of  the  causes  of  the  war. 

Long  as  the  world  shall  last,  these  addresses  will  live. 
Our  children  and  our  children 's  children  will  be  reading 
them  when  the  present  generation  shall  have  passed 


10  INTRODUCTION 

away,  leaving  the  world  the  better  off  for  our  work  for 
humanity  in  this  war.  And  if  any  there  be,  calling  them- 
selves American  citizens,  who  harbor  the  shadow  of  a 
doubt  as  to  the  wisdom,  nay  the  national  necessity,  of 
President  Wilson's  policy  toward  the  world  war,  leading 
to  our  final  participation  in  the  great  struggle,  let  them 
read  these  addresses  and  the  diplomatic,  history-making 
documents  which  supplement  and  support  them  in  these 
pages, — and  be  forever  convinced. 

Little  need  be  said  as  to  the  literary  quality  of  these 
state  papers.  Our  great  President  is  a  master  of  the 
English  language,  unquestionably  the  greatest  master 
of  English  that  ever  occupied  the  presidential  chair. 
Language  is  a  weapon  which  he  wields  with  unerring 
skill.  He  wastes  no  words,  but  like  Shakespeare  gives 
to  each  its  proper  weight  and  worth.  His  speeches  are 
studded  with  literary  gems  and  while  they  command  and 
hold  the  interest  of  the  average  reader,  they  furnish 
mines  of  wealth  for  continuous  study  by  those  who  seek 
models  of  good  diction. 

Scholarly,  sincere,  wise,  patriotic — these  are  the  out- 
standing characteristics  of  Mr.  Wilson's  speeches  and 
state  papers,  and  the  greatest  of  these  is  their  patriotic 
quality,  reflecting  as  an  exemplar  for  every  American 
citizen  the  devoted  patriotism  of  our  providential 
President 


BIOGRAPHY 

Woodrow  Wilson  was  born  at  Staunton,  Va.,  December  28, 
1856;  attended  Davidson  College,  North  Carolina,  1874-5;  A.B., 
Princeton,  1879,  A.M.,  1882;  graduated  in  law,  University  of 
Virginia,  1881,  and  practiced  law  in  Atlanta,  Ga.,  1882-3;  took 
a  post-graduate  course  at  Johns  Hopkins  University,  1882-3, 
obtaining  degree  of  Ph.D.  in  1886. 

On  June  24,  1885,  he  married  Ellen  Louise  Axsen,  of  Savan- 
nah, Ga.  (died  August  6,  1914). 

From  1885  to  1888  he  was  Associate  Professor  of  History  and 
Political  Economy  at  Bryn  Mawr  College;  1888-1890,  Professor 
of  History  and  Political  Economy,  Wesleyan  University;  1890- 
1895,  Professor  of  Jurisprudence  and  Political  Economy,  Prince- 
ton University,  and  from  1895  to  1897,  Professor  of  Jurisprudence 
at  Princeton;  Professor  of  Jurisprudence  and  Polities,  Princeton, 
1897-1910,  and  President  of  Princeton  University  from  1902  to 
1910.  From  January  17,  1911,  to  March  1,  1912,  he  was  Governor 
of  New  Jersey,  and  at  the  Democratic  National  Convention  at 
Baltimore,  1912,  was  nominated  for  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  elected  on  November  4,  1912,  receiving  435 
electoral  votes  against  88  for  Theodore  Eoosevelt,  Progressive, 
and  8  for  William  Howard  Taft,  Eepublican. 

On  December  18,  1915,  he  married  Edith  Boiling  Gait,  of 
Washington,  D.  C. 

He  was  nominated  for  his  second  presidential  term  by  the 
Democratic  National  Convention  at  St.  Louis,  June,  1916,  and 
elected  on  November  7, 1916,  receiving  276  electoral  votes  against 
255  for  Charles  E.  Hughes,  Eepublican,  with  a  popular  plurality 
of  about  400,000. 

He  is  the  author  of  "Congressional  Government,  A  Study  in 
American  Politics"  (1885);  "The  State — Elements  of  Historical 
and  Practical  Politics"  (1889);  "Division  and  Eeunion,  1829- 
1889"  (1893);  "An  Old  Master,  and  Other  Political  Essays" 
(1893);  "Mere  Literature,  and  Other  Essays"  (1893);  "George 
Washington"  (1896);  "A  History  of  the  American  People" 
(1902);  "Constitutional  Government  in  the  United  States" 
(1908);  "Free  Life"  (1913);  "The  New  Freedom"  (1913); 
"When  a  Man  Comes  to  Himself"  (1915);  "On  Being  Human" 
(1916). 

On  April  6,  1917,  he  issued  a  declaration  of  war  against  Ger- 
many, and  against  Austria  on  December  12,  1917. 

Left  United  States  on  December  4,  1918,  to  participate  in 
Allied  Peace  Conference  at  Paris,  France. 


WHY  WE  WENT  TO  WAR 

President  Wilson's  Famous  Address  at  the  Opening  of 
the  War  Congress,  April  2,  1917 

GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  CONGRESS  : 

I  have  called  the  Congress  into  extraordinary  session 
because  there  are  serious,  very  serious,  choices  of  policy 
to  be  made,  and  made  immediately,  which  it  was  neither 
right  nor  constitutionally  permissible  that  I  should  as- 
sume the  responsibility  of  making. 

On  the  third  of  February  last  I  officially  laid  before  you 
the  extraordinary  announcement  of  the  Imperial  German 
Government  that  on  and  after  the  first  day  of  February 
it  was  its  purpose  to  put  aside  all  restraints  of  law  or  of 
humanity  and  use  its  submarines  to  sink  every  vessel 
that  sought  to  approach  either  the  ports  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  or  the  western  coasts  of  Europe  or  any  of  the 
ports  controlled  by  the  enemies  of  Germany  within  the 
Mediterranean.  That  had  seemed  to  be  the  object  of  the 
German  submarine  warfare  earlier  in  the  war,  but  since 
April  of  last  year  the  Imperial  Government  had  some- 
what restrained  the  commanders  of  its  undersea  craft  in 
conformity  with  its  promise  then  given  to  us  that  passen- 
ger boats  should  not  be  sunk  and  that  due  warning  would 
be  given  to  all  other  vessels  which  its  submarines  might 
seek  to  destroy,  when  no  resistance  was  offered  or  escape 
attempted,  and  care  taken  that  their  crews  were  given  at 
least  a  fair  chance  to  save  their  lives  in  their  open  boats. 
The  precautions  taken  were  meagre  and  haphazard 

11 


12  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

enough,  as  was  proved  in  distressing  instance  after  in- 
stance in  the  progress  of  the  cruel  and  unmanly  busi- 
ness, but  a  certain  degree  of  restraint  was  observed.  The 
new  policy  has  swept  every  restriction  aside.  Vessels  of 
every  kind,  whatever  their  flag,  their  character,  their 
cargo,  their  destination,  their  errand,  have  been  ruth- 
lessly sent  to  the  bottom  without  warning  and  without 
thought  of  help  or  mercy  for  those  on  board,  the  vessels 
of  friendly  neutrals  along  with  those  of  belligerents. 
Even  hospital  ships  and  ships  carrying  relief  to  the  sorely 
bereaved  and  stricken  people  of  Belgium,  though  the  lat- 
ter were  provided  with  safe  conduct  through  the  pro- 
scribed areas  by  the  German  Government  itself  and  were 
distinguished  by  unmistakable  marks  of  identity,  have 
been  sunk  with  the  same  reckless  lack  of  compassion  or  of 
principle. 

I  was  for  a  little  while  unable  to  believe  that  such  things 
would  in  fact  be  done  by  any  government  that  had 
hitherto  subscribed  to  the  humane  practices  of  civilized 
nations.  International  law  had  its  origin  in  the  attempt 
to  set  up  some  law  which  would  be  respected  and  ob- 
served upon  the  seas,  where  no  nation  had  right  of 
dominion  and  where  lay  the  free  highways  of  the  world. 
By  painful  stage  after  stage  has  that  law  been  built  up, 
with  meagre  enough  results,  indeed,  after  all  was  accom- 
plished that  could  be  accomplished,  but  always  with  a 
clear  view,  at  least,  of  what  the  heart  and  conscience  of 
mankind  demanded.  This  minimum  of  right  the  Ger- 
man Government  has  swept  aside  under  the  plea  of  re- 
taliation and  necessity  and  because  it  had  no  weapons 
which  it  could  use  at  sea  except  these  which  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  employ  as  it  is  employing  them  without  throwing 
to  the  winds  all  scruples  of  humanity  or  of  respect  for 
the  understandings  that  were  supposed  to  underlie  the 


GREAT  SPEECHES  13 

intercourse  of  the  world.  I  am  not  now  thinking  of  the 
loss  of  property  involved,  immense  and  serious  as  that 
is,  but  only  of  the  wanton  and  wholesale  destruction  of 
the  lives  of  non-combatants,  men,  women,  and  children, 
engaged  in  pursuits  which  have  always,  even  in  the  dark- 
est periods  of  modern  history,  been  deemed  innocent  and 
legitimate.  Property  can  be  paid  for ;  the  lives  of  peace- 
ful and  innocent  people  cannot  be.  The  present  German 
submarine  warfare  against  commerce  is  a  warfare  against 
mankind. 

It  is  a  war  against  all  nations.  American  ships  have 
been  sunk,  American  lives  taken,  in  ways  which  it  has 
stirred  us  very  deeply  to  learn  of,  but  the  ships  and  peo- 
ple of  other  neutral  and  friendly  nations  have  been  sunk 
and  overwhelmed  in  the  waters  in  the  same  way.  There 
has  been  no  discrimination.  The  challenge  is  to  all  man- 
kind. Each  nation  must  decide  for  itself  how  it  will  meet 
it.  The  choice  we  make  for  ourselves  must  be  made  with 
a  moderation  of  counsel  and  a  temperateness  of  judgment 
befitting  our  character  and  our  motives  as  a  nation.  "We 
must  put  excited  feeling  away.  Our  motive  will  not  be 
revenge  or  the  victorious  assertion  of  the  physical  might 
of  the  nation,  but  only  the  vindication  of  right,  of  human 
right,  of  which  we  are  only  a  single  champion. 

When  I  addressed  the  Congress  on  the  twenty-sixth  of 
February  last  I  thought  that  it  would  suffice  to  assert  our 
neutral  rights  with  arms,  our  right  to  use  the  seas  against 
unlawful  interference,  our  right  to  keep  our  people  safe 
against  unlawful  violence.  But  armed  neutrality,  it  now 
appears,  is  impracticable.  Because  submarines  are  in 
effect  outlaws  when  used  as  the  German  submarines  have 
been  used  against  merchant  shipping,  it  is  impossible  to 
defend  ships  against  their  attacks  as  the  law  of  nations 


14  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

has  assumed  that  merchantmen  would  defend  themselves 
against  privateers  or  cruisers,  visible  craft  giving  chase 
upon  the  open  sea.  It  is  common  prudence  in  such  cir- 
cumstances, grim  necessity  indeed,  to  endeavor  to  destroy 
them  before  they  have  shown  their  own  intention.  They 
must  be  dealt  with  upon  sight,  if  dealt  with  at  all.  The 
German  Government  denies  the  right  of  neutrals  to  use 
arms  at  all  within  the  areas  of  the  sea  which  it  has  pro- 
scribed, even  in  the  defense  of  rights  which  no  modern 
publicist  has  ever  before  questioned  their  right  to  defend. 
The  intimation  is  conveyed  that  the  armed  guards  which 
we  have  placed  on  our  merchant  ships  will  be  treated  as 
beyond  the  pale  of  law  and  subject  to  be  dealt  with  as 
pirates  would  be.  Armed  neutrality  is  ineffectual  enough 
at  best ;  in  such  circumstances  and  in  the  face  of  such  pre- 
tensions it  is  worse  than  ineffectual ;  it  is  likely  only  to 
produce  what  it  was  meant  to  prevent ;  it  is  practically 
certain  to  draw  us  into  the  war  without  either  the  rights 
or  the  effectiveness  of  belligerents.  There  is  one  choice 
we  cannot  make,  we  are  incapable  of  making :  we  will  not 
choose  the  path  of  submission  and  suffer  the  most  sacred 
rights  of  our  nation  and  our  people  to  be  ignored  or  vio- 
lated. The  wrongs  against  which  we  now  array  ourselves 
are  no  common  wrongs;  they  cut  to  the  very  roots  of 
human  life. 

With  a  profound  sense  of  the  solemn  and  even  tragical 
character  of  the  step  I  am  taking  and  of  the  grave  respon- 
sibilities which  it  involves,  but  in  unhesitating  obedience 
to  what  I  deem  my  constitutional  duty,  I  advise  that  the 
Congress  declare  the  recent  course  of  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  to  be  in  fact  nothing  less  than  war 
against  the  government  and  people  of  the  United  States ; 
that  it  formally  accept  the  status  of  belligerent  which 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  15 

has  thus  been  thrust  upon  it ;  and  that  it  take  immediate 
steps  not  only  to  put  the  country  in  a  more  thorough 
state  of  defense  but  also  to  exert  all  its  power  and  employ 
all  its  resources  to  bring  the  Government  of  the  German 
Empire  to  terms  and  end  the  war. 

What  this  will  involve  is  clear.  It  will  involve  the 
utmost  practicable  cooperation  in  counsel  and  action  with 
the  governments  now  at  war  with  Germany,  and,  as  inci- 
dent to  that,  the  extension  to  those  governments  of  the 
most  liberal  financial  credits,  in  order  that  our  resources 
may  so  far  as  possible  be  added  to  theirs.  It  will  involve 
the  organization  and  mobilization  of  all  the  material 
resources  of  the  country  to  supply  the  materials  of  war 
and  serve  the  incidental  needs  of  the  nation  in  the  most 
abundant  and  yet  the  most  economical  and  efficient  way 
possible.  It  will  involve  the  immediate  full  equipment 
of  the  navy  in  all  respects,  but  particularly  in  supplying 
it  with  the  best  means  of  dealing  with  the  enemy's  sub- 
marines. It  will  involve  the  immediate  addition  to  the 
armed  forces  of  the  United  States  already  provided  for  by 
law  in  case  of  war  of  at  least  five  hundred  thousand  men, 
who  should,  in  my  opinion,  be  chosen  upon  the  principle 
of  universal  liability  to  service,  and  also  the  authorization 
of  subsequent  additional  increments  of  equal  force  so  soon 
as  they  may  be  needed  and  can  be  handled  in  training. 
It  will  involve  also,  of  course,  the  granting  of  adequate 
credits  to  the  Government,  sustained,  I  hope,  so  far  as 
they  can  equitably  be  sustained  by  the  present  generation, 
by  well  conceived  taxation. 

I  say  sustained  so  far  as  may  be  equitable  by  taxation 
because  it  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  most  unwise  to 
base  the  credits  which  will  now  be  necessary  entirely  on 
money  borrowed.  It  is  our  duty,  I  most  respectfully 


16  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S    ' 

urge,  to  protect  our  people  so  far  as  we  may  against  the 
very  serious  hardships  and  evils  which  would  be  likely 
to  arise  out  of  the  inflation  which  would  be  produced  by 
vast  loans. 

In  carrying  out  the  measures  by  which  these  things  are 
to  be  accomplished  we  should  keep  constantly  in  mind  the 
wisdom  of  interfering  as  little  as  possible  in  our  own 
preparation  and  in  the  equipment  of  our  own  military 
forces  with  the  duty, — for  it  will  be  a  very  practical  duty, 
— of  supplying  the  nations  already  at  war  with  Germany 
with  the  materials  which  they  can  obtain  only  from  us 
or  by  our  assistance.  They  are  in  the  field  and  we  should 
help  them  in  every  way  to  be  effective  there. 

I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting,  through  the  sev- 
eral executive  departments  of  the  Government,  for  the 
consideration  of  your  committees,  measures  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  several  objects  I  have  mentioned.  I 
hope  that  it  will  be  your  pleasure  to  deal  with  them  as 
having  been  framed  after  very  careful  thought  by  the 
branch  of  the  Government  upon  which  the  responsibility 
of  conducting  the  war  and  safeguarding  the  nation  will 
most  directly  fall. 

While  we  do  these  things,  these  deeply  momentous 
things,  let  us  be  very  clear,  and  make  very  clear  to  all  the 
world  what  our  motives  and  our  objects  are.  My  own 
thought  has  not  been  driven  from  its  habitual  and  normal 
course  by  the  unhappy  events  of  the  last  two  months,  and 
I  do  not  believe  that  the  thought  of  the  nation  has  been 
altered  or  clouded  by  them.  I  have  exactly  the  same 
things  in  mind  now  that  I  had  in  mind  when  I  addressed 
the  Senate  on  the  twenty-second  of  January  last;  the 
same  that  I  had  in  mind  when  I  addressed  the  Congress 
on  the  third  of  February  and  on  the  twenty-sixth  of  Feb- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  17 

mary.  Our  object  now,  as  then,  is  to  vindicate  the  prin- 
ciples of  peace  and  justice  in  the  life  of  the  world  as 
against  selfish  and  autocratic  power  and  to  set  up  amongst 
the  really  free  and  self-governed  peoples  of  the  world 
such  a  concert  of  purpose  and  of  action  as  will  henceforth 
ensure  the  observance  of  those  principles.  Neutrality  is 
no  longer  feasible  or  desirable  where  the  peace  of  the 
world  is  involved  and  the  freedom  of  its  peoples,  and  the 
menace  to  that  peace  and  freedom  lies  in  the  existence  of 
autocratic  governments  backed  by  organized  force  which 
is  controlled  wholly  by  their  will,  not  by  the  will  of  their 
people.  We  have  seen  the  last  of  neutrality  in  such  cir- 
cumstances. We  are  at  the  beginning  of  an  age  in  which 
it  will  be  insisted  that  the  same  standards  of  conduct  and 
of  responsibility  for  wrong  done  shall  be  observed  among 
nations  and  their  governments  that  are  observed  among 
the  individual  citizens  of  civilized  states. 

We  have  no  quarrel  with  the  German  people.  We 
have  no  feeling  toward  them  but  one  of  sympathy  and 
friendship.  It  was  not  upon  their  impulse  that  their 
Government  acted  in  entering  this  war.  It  was  not  with 
their  previous  knowledge  or  approval.  It  was  a  war 
determined  upon  as  wars  used  to  be  determined  upon  in 
the  old,  unhappy  days  when  peoples  were  nowhere  con- 
sulted by  their  rulers  and  wars  were  provoked  and  waged 
in  the  interest  of  dynasties  or  of  little  groups  of  ambi- 
tious men  who  were  accustomed  to  use  their  fellow  men 
as  pawns  and  tools.  Self-governed  nations  do  not  fill 
their  neighbor  states  with  spies  or  set  the  course  of  in- 
trigue to  bring  about  some  critical  posture  of  affairs 
which  will  give  them  an  opportunity  to  strike  and  make 
conquest.  Such  designs  can  be  successfully  worked  out 
only  under  cover  and  where  no  one  has  the  right  to  ask 


18  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

questions.  Cunningly  contrived  plans  of  deception  or 
aggression,  carried,  it  may  be,  from  generation  to  gener- 
ation, can  be  worked  out  and  kept  from  the  light  only 
within  the  privacy  of  courts  or  behind  the  carefully 
guarded  confidences  of  a  narrow  and  privileged  class. 
They  are  happily  impossible  where  public  opinion  com- 
mands and  insists  upon  full  information  concerning  all 
the  nation 's  affairs. 

A  steadfast  concert  for  peace  can  never  be  maintained 
except  by  a  partnership  of  democratic  nations.  No  auto- 
cratic government  could  be  trusted  to  keep  faith  within 
it  or  observe  its  covenants.  It  must  be  a  league  of  honor, 
a  partnership  of  opinion.  Intrigue  would  eat  its  vitals 
away ;  the  plottings  of  inner  circles  who  could  plan  what 
they  would  and  render  account  to  no  one  would  be  a  cor- 
ruption seated  at  its  very  heart.  Only  free  peoples  can 
hold  their  purpose  and  their  honor  steady  to  a  common 
end  and  prefer  the  interests  of  mankind  to  any  narrow 
interest  of  their  own. 

Does  not  every  American  feel  that  assurance  has  been 
added  to  our  hope  for  the  future  peace  of  the  world  by 
the  wonderful  and  heartening  things  that  have  been  hap- 
pening within  the  last  few  weeks  in  Russia  ?  Russia  was 
known  by  those  who  knew  it  best  to  have  been  always  in 
fact  democratic  at  heart,  in  all  the  vital  habits  of  her 
thought,  in  all  the  intimate  relationships  of  her  people 
that  spoke  their  natural  instinct,  their  habitual  attitude 
toward  life.  The  autocracy  that  crowned  the  summit  of 
her  political  structure,  long  as  it  had  stood  and  terrible  as 
was  the  reality  of  its  power,  was  not  in  fact  Russian  in 
origin,  character,  or  purpose ;  and  now  it  has  been  shaken 
off  and  the  great,  generous  Russian  people  have  been 
added  in  all  their  native  majesty  and  might  to  the  forcea 


GREAT  SPEECHES  19 

that  are  fighting  for  freedom  in  the  world,  for  justice,  and 
for  peace.  Here  is  a  fit  partner  for  a  League  of  Honor. 

One  of  the  things  that  has  served  to  convince  us  that  the 
Prussian  autocracy  was  not  and  could  never  be  our  friend 
is  that  from  the  very  outset  of  the  present  war  it  has 
filled  our  unsuspecting  communities  and  even  our  offices 
of  government  with  spies  and  set  criminal  intrigues  every- 
where afoot  against  our  national  unity  of  counsel,  OUT 
peace  within  and  without,  our  industries  and  our  com- 
merce. Indeed,  it  is  now  evident  that  its  spies  were  here 
even  before  the  war  began ;  and  it  is  unhappily  not  a  mat- 
ter of  conjecture,  but  a  fact  proved  in  our  courts  of  jus- 
tice that  the  intrigues  which  have  more  than  once  come 
perilously  near  to  disturbing  the  peace  and  dislocating  the 
industries  of  the  country  have  been  carried  on  at  the 
instigation,  with  the  support,  and  even  under  the  personal 
direction  of  official  agents  of  the  Imperial  Government 
accredited  to  the  Government  of  the  United  States.  Even 
in  checking  these  things  and  trying  to  extirpate  them 
we  have  sought  to  put  the  most  generous  interpretation 
possible  upon  them  because  we  knew  that  their  source  lay, 
not  in  any  hostile  feeling  or  purpose  of  the  German  people 
toward  us  (who  were  no  doubt  as  ignorant  of  them  as  we 
ourselves  werej,  but  only  in  the  selfish  designs  of  a  Gov- 
ernment that  did  what  it  pleased  and  told  its  people  noth- 
ing. But  they  have  played  their  part  in  serving  to  con- 
vince us  at  last  that  that  Government  entertains  no  real 
friendship  for  us  and  means  to  act  against  our  peace  and 
security  at  its  convenience.  That  it  means  to  stir  up  ene- 
mies against  us  at  our  very  doors  the  intercepted  note  to 
the  German  Minister  at  Mexico  City  is  eloquent  evidence. 

"We  are  accepting  this  challenge  of  hostile  purpose 
because  we  know  that  in  such  a  government,  following 


20  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

such  methods,  we  can  never  have  a  friend;  and  that  in 
the  presence  of  its  organized  power,  always  lying  in  wait 
to  accomplish  we  know  not  what  purpose,  there  can  be  no 
assured  security  for  the  democratic  governments  of  the 
world.  "We  are  now  about  to  accept  gage  of  battle  with 
this  natural  foe  to  liberty  and  shall,  if  necessary,  spend 
the  whole  force  of  the  nation  to  check  and  nullify  its  pre- 
tensions and  its  power.  We  are  glad,  now  that  we  see 
the  facts  with  no  veil  of  false  pretense  about  them,  to 
fight  thus  for  the  ultimate  peace  of  the  world  and  for  the 
liberation  of  its  peoples,  the  German  peoples  included: 
for  the  rights  of  nations  great  and  small  and  the  privilege 
of  men  everywhere  to  choose  their  way  of  life  and  of  obed- 
ience. The  world  must  be  made  safe  for  democracy. 
Its  peace  must  be  planted  upon  the  tested  foundations  of 
political  liberty.  We  have  no  selfish  ends  to  serve.  We 
desire  no  conquest,  no  dominion.  We  seek  no  indemnities 
for  ourselves,  no  material  compensation  for  the  sacrifices 
we  shall  freely  make.  We  are  but  one  of  the  champions 
of  the  rights  of  mankind.  We  shall  be  satisfied  when 
those  rights  have  been  made  as  secure  as  the  faith  and  the 
freedom  of  nations  can  make  them. 

Just  because  we  fight  without  rancour  and  without 
selfish  object,  seeking  nothing  for  ourselves  but  what  we 
shall  wish  to  share  with  all  free  peoples,  we  shall,  I  feel 
confident,  conduct  our  operations  as  belligerents  with- 
out passion  and  ourselves  observe  with  proud  punctilio 
the  principles  of  right  and  of  fair  play  we  profess  to  be 
fighting  for. 

I  have  said  nothing  of  the  governments  allied  with  the 
Imperial  Government  of  Germany  because  they  have  not 
made  war  upon  us  or  challenged  us  to  defend  our  right 
and  our  honor.  The  Austro-Hungarian  Government  has, 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  21 

indeed,  avowed  its  unqualified  endorsement  and  accept- 
ance of  the  reckless  and  lawless  submarine  warfare 
adopted  now  without  disguise  by  the  Imperial  German 
Government,  and  it  has  therefore  not  been  possible  for 
this  Government  to  receive  Count  Tarnowski,  the  Am- 
bassador recently  accredited  to  this  Government  by  the 
Imperial  and  Royal  Government  of  Austria-Hungary; 
but  that  Government  has  not  actually  engaged  in  war- 
fare against  citizens  of  the  United  States  on  the  seas,  and 
I  take  the  liberty,  for  the  present  at  least,  of  postponing 
a  discussion  of  our  relations  with  the  authorities  at 
Vienna.  We  enter  this  war  only  where  we  are  clearly 
forced  into  it  because  there  are  no  other  means  of  defend- 
ing our  rights. 

It  will  be  all  the  easier  for  us  to  conduct  ourselves 
as  belligerents  in  a  high  spirit  of  right  and  fairness 
because  we  act  without  animus,  not  in  enmity  towards  a 
people  or  with  the  desire  to  bring  any  injury  or  disadvan- 
tage upon  them,  but  only  in  armed  opposition  to  an  irre- 
sponsible government  which  has  thrown  aside  all  con- 
siderations of  humanity  and  of  right  and  is  running 
amuck.  We  are,  let  me  say  again,  the  sincere  friends  of 
the  German  people,  and  shall  desire  nothing  so  much 
as  the  early  re-establishment  of  intimate  relations  of 
mutual  advantage  between  us — however  hard  it  be  may 
for  them,  for  the  time  being,  to  believe  that  this  is  spoken 
from  our  hearts.  We  have  borne  with  their  present  gov- 
ernment through  all  these  bitter  months  because  of  that 
friendship — exercising  a  patience  and  forbearance  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  impossible.  We  shall,  happily, 
still  have  an  opportunity  to  prove  that  friendship  in. our 
daily  attitude  and  actions  towards  the  millions  of  men 
and  women  of  German  birth  and  native  sympathy  who 


22  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

live  amongst  us  and  share  our  life,  and  we  shall  be  proud 
to  prove  it  towards  all  who  are  in  fact  loyal  to  their 
neighbors  and  to  the  Government  in  the  hour  of  test. 
They  are,  most  of  them,  as  true  and  loyal  Americans  as 
if  they  had  never  known  any  other  fealty  or  allegiance. 
They  will  be  prompt  to  stand  with  us  in  rebuking  and 
restraining  the  few  who  may  be  of  a  different  mind  and 
purpose.  If  there  should  be  disloyalty,  it  will  be  dealt 
with  with  a  firm  hand  of  stern  repression ;  but,  if  it  lifts 
its  head  at  all,  it  will  lift  it  only  here  and  there  and  with- 
out countenance  except  from  a  lawless  and  malignant  few. 
It  is  a  distressing  and  oppressive  duty,  Gentlemen  of 
the  Congress,  which  I  have  performed  in  thus  addressing 
you.  There  are,  it  may  be,  many  months  of  fiery  trial 
and  sacrifice  ahead  of  us.  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  lead 
this  great  peaceful  people  into  war,  into  the  most  terrible 
and  disastrous  of  all  wars,  civilization  itself  seeming  to 
be  in  the  balance.  But  the  right  is  more  precious  than 
peace,  and  we  shall  fight  for  the  things  which  we  have 
always  carried  nearest  our  hearts — for  democracy,  for 
the  right  of  those  who  submit  to  authority  to  have  a  voice 
in  their  own  governments,  for  the  rights  and  liberties 
cf  small  nations,  for  a  universal  dominion  of  right  by 
such  a  concert  of  free  peoples  as  shall  bring  peace  and 
safety  to  all  nations  and  make  the  world  itself  at  last  free. 
To  such  a  task  we  can  dedicate  our  lives  and  our  fortunes, 
everything  that  we  are  and  everything  that  we  have, 
with  the  pride  of  those  who  know  that  the  day  has  come 
when  America  is  privileged  to  spend  her  blood  and  her 
might  for  the  principles  that  gave  her  birth  and  happi- 
ness and  the  peace  which  she  has  treasured.  God  helping 
her,  she  can  do  no  other. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  23 

THE  DECLAKATION  OF  WAR 

Sixty-Fifth  Congress  of  the  United  States  of  America 

At  the  first  session,  begun  and  held  at  the  City  of 
Washington  on  Monday,  the  second  day  of  April,  one 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventeen. 

Joint  resolution  declaring  that  a  state  of  war  exists 
between  the  Imperial  German  Government  and  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  people  of  the  United  States  and  making 
provision  to  prosecute  the  same. 

Whereas  the  Imperial  German  Government  has  com- 
mitted repeated  acts  of  war  against  the  Government  and 
the  people  of  the  United  States  of  America;  therefore, 
be  it 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled, 
That  the  state  of  war  between  the  United  States  and  the 
Imperial  German  Government  which  has  thus  been  thrust 
upon  the  United  States  is  hereby  formally  declared ;  and 
that  the  President  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  authorized  and 
directed  to  employ  the  entire  naval  and  military  forces 
of  the  United  States  and  the  resources  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  carry  on  war  against  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment ;  and  to  bring  the  conflict  to  a  successful  termi- 
nation all  of  the  resources  of  the  country  are  hereby 
pledged  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

CHAMP  CLARK, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

THOS.  R.  MARSHALL, 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States  and 

President  of  the  Senate. 
Approved,  April  6,  1917, 
WOODROW  WILSON. 


24  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

PRESIDENT    WILSON'S    ADDRESS    TO 
HIS  FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN 

April  16, 1917 

MY  FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN: 

The  entrance  of  our  own  beloved  country  into  the  grim 
and  terrible  war  for  democracy  and  human  rights  which 
has  shaken  the  world  creates  so  many  problems  of  national 
life  and  action  which  call  for  immediate  consideration 
and  settlement  that  I  hope  you  will  permit  me  to  address 
to  you  a  few  words  of  earnest  counsel  and  appeal  with 
regard  to  them. 

We  are  rapidly  putting  our  navy  upon  an  effective  war 
footing  and  are  about  to  create  and  equip  a  great  army, 
but  these  are  the  simplest  parts  of  the  great  task  to  which 
we  have  addressed  ourselves.  There  is  not  a  single  selfish 
element,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  in  the  cause  we  are  fighting 
for.  We  are  fighting  for  what  we  believe  and  wish  to  be 
the  rights  of  mankind  and  for  the  future  peace  and  se- 
curity of  the  world.  To  do  this  great  thing  worthily  and 
successfully  we  must  devote  ourselves  to  the  service 
without  regard  to  profit  or  material  advantage  and  with 
an  energy  and  intelligence  that  will  rise  to  the  level  of 
the  enterprise  itself.  We  must  realize  to  the  full  how 
great  the  task  is  and  how  many  things,  how  many  kinds 
and  elements  of  capacity  and  service  and  self-sacrifice, 
it  involves. 

These,  then,  are  the  things  we  must  do,  and  do  well, 
besides  fighting — the  things  without  which  mere  fight- 
ing would  be  fruitless : 

We  must  supply  abundant  food  for  ourselves  and  for 
our  armies  and  our  seamen  not  only,  but  also  for  a  large 


GREAT  SPEECHES  2fc 

part  of  the  nations  with  whom  we  have  now  made  com. 
mon  cause,  in  whose  support  and  by  whose  sides  we  shaU 
be  fighting; 

We  must  supply  ships  by  the  hundreds  out  of  our  ship- 
yards to  carry  to  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  submarines  or 
no  submarines,  what  will  every  day  be  needed  there,  and 
abundant  materials  out  of  our  fields  and  our  mines  and 
our  factories  with  which  not  only  to  clothe  and  equip 
our  own  forces  on  land  and  sea  but  also  to  clothe  and 
support  our  people  for  whom  the  gallant  fellows  under 
arms  can  no  longer  work,  to  help  clothe  and  equip  the 
armies  with  which  we  are  co-operating  in  Europe,  and  to 
keep  the  looms  and  manufactories  there  in  raw  material ; 
coal  to  keep  the  fires  going  in  ships  at  sea  and  in  the  fur- 
naces of  hundreds  of  factories  across  the  sea;  steel  out 
of  which  to  make  arms  and  ammunition  both  here  and 
there;  rails  for  worn-out  railways  back  of  the  fighting 
fronts;  locomotives  and  rolling  stock  to  take  the  place 
of  those  every  day  going  to  pieces;  mules,  horses,  cattle 
for  labor  and  for  military  service ;  everything  with  which 
the  people  of  England  and  France  and  Italy  and  Russia 
have  usually  supplied  themselves  but  can  not  now  afford 
the  men,  the  materials,  or  the  machinery  to  make. 

It  is  evident  to  every  thinking  man  that  our  indus- 
tries, on  the  farms,  in  the  shipyards,  in  the  mines,  in 
the  factories,  must  be  made  more  prolific  and  more  effi- 
cient than  ever  and  that  they  must  be  more  economically 
managed  and  better  adapted  to  the  particular  require- 
ments of  our  task  than  they  have  been ;  and  what  I  want 
to  say  is  that  the  men  and  the  women  who  devote  their 
thought  and  their  energy  to  these  things  will  be  serving 
the  country  and  conducting  the  fight  for  peace  and 
freedom  just  as  truly  and  just  as  effectively  as  the  men 


26  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

on  the  battlefield  or  in  the  trenches.  The  industrial 
forces  of  the  country,  men  and  women  alike,  will  be  a 
great  national,  a  great  international,  Service  Army — a 
notable  and  honored  host  engaged  in  the  service  of  the 
nation  and  the  world,  the  efficient  friends  and  saviors 
of  free  men  everywhere.  Thousands,  nay,  hundreds  of 
thousands,  of  men  otherwise  liable  to  military  service 
will  of  right  and  necessity  be  excused  from  that  service 
and  assigned  to  the  fundamental,  sustaining  work  of  the 
fields  and  factories  and  mines,  and  they  will  be  as  much 
part  of  the  great  patriotic  forces  of  the  nation  as  the 
men  under  fire. 

I  take  the  liberty,  therefore,  of  addressing  this  word 
to  the  farmers  of  the  country  and  to  all  who  work  on  the 
farms :  The  supreme  need  of  our  own  nation  and  of  the 
nations  with  which  we  are  co-operating  is  an  abundance 
of  supplies,  and  especially  of  foodstuffs.  The  impor- 
tance of  an  adequate  food  supply,  especially  for  the 
present  year,  is  superlative.  Without  abundant  food, 
alike  for  the  armies  and  the  peoples  now  at  war,  the 
whole  great  enterprise  upon  which  we  have  embarked 
will  break  down  and  fail.  The  world's  food  reserves  are 
low.  Not  only  during  the  present  emergency  but  for  some 
time  after  peace  shall  come  both  our  own  people  and  a 
large  proportion  of  the  people  of  Europe  must  rely  upon 
the  harvests  in  America.  Upon  the  farmers  of  this  coun- 
try, therefore,  in  large  measure,  rests  the  fate  of  the  war 
and  the  fate  of  the  nations.  May  the  nation  not  count 
upon  them  to  omit  no  step  that  will  increase  the  produc- 
tion of  their  land  or  that  will  bring  about  the  most 
effectual  co-operation  in  the  sale  and  distribution  of  their 
products?  The  time  is  short.  It  is  of  the  most  impera- 
tive importance  that  everything  possible  be  done  and 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  27 

done  immediately  to  make  sure  of  large  harvests.  I  call 
upon  young  men  and  old  alike  and  upon  the  able-bodied 
boys  of  the  land  to  accept  and  act  upon  this  duty — to  turn 
in  hosts  to  the  farms  and  make  certain  that  no  pains 
and  no  labor  is  lacking  in  this  great  matter. 

I  particularly  appeal  to  the  farmers  of  the  South  to 
plant  abundant  foodstuffs  as  well  as  cotton.  They  can 
show  their  patriotism  in  no  better  or  more  convincing 
way  than  by  resisting  the  great  temptation  of  the  pres- 
ent price  of  cotton  and  helping,  helping  upon  a  great 
scale,  to  feed  the  nation  and  the  peoples  everywhere 
who  are  fighting  for  their  liberties  and  for  our  own.  The 
variety  of  their  crops  will  be  the  visible  measure  of 
their  comprehension  of  their  national  duty. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  govern- 
ments of  the  several  States  stand  ready  to  co-operate. 
They  will  do  everything  possible  to  assist  farmers  in  se- 
curing an  adequate  supply  of  seed,  an  adequate  force  of 
laborers  when  they  are  most  needed,  at  harvest  time, 
and  the  means  of  expediting  shipments  of  fertilizers  and 
farm  machinery,  as  well  as  of  the  crops  themselves  when 
harvested.  The  course  of  trade  shall  be  as  unhampered 
as  it  is  possible  to  make  it  and  there  shall  be  no  unwar- 
ranted manipulation  of  the  nation's  food  supply  by  those 
who  handle  it  on  its  way  to  the  consumer.  This  is  our 
opportunity  to  demonstrate  the  efficiency  of  a  great  De- 
mocracy and  we  shall  not  fall  short  of  it ! 

This  let  me  say  to  the  middlemen  of  every  sort,  whether 
they  are  handling  our  foodstuffs  or  our  raw  materials 
of  manufacture  or  the  products  of  our  mills  and  factories : 
The  eyes  of  the  country  will  be  especially  upon  you.  This 
is  your  opportunity  for  signal  service,  efficient  and  dis- 
interested. The  country  expects  you,  as  it  expects  all 


28  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

others,  to  forego  unusual  profits,  to  organize  and  expedite 
shipments  of  supplies  of  every  kind,  but  especially  of 
food,  with  an  eye  to  the  service  you  are  rendering  and  in 
the  spirit  of  those  who  enlist  in  the  ranks,  for  their 
people,  not  for  themselves.  I  shall  confidently  expect 
you  to  deserve  and  win  the  confidence  of  people  of  every 
sort  and  station. 

To  the  men  who  run  the  railways  of  the  country, 
whether  they  be  managers  or  operative  employees,  let  me 
say  that  the  railways  are  the  arteries  of  the  nation 's  life 
and  that  upon  them  rests  the  immense  responsibility  of 
seeing  to  it  that  those  arteries  suffer  no  obstruction  of 
any  kind,  no  inefficiency  or  slackened  power.  To  the 
merchant  let  me  suggest  the  motto,  "Small  profits  and 
quick  service ; ' '  and  to  the  shipbuilder  the  thought  that 
the  life  of  the  war  depends  upon  him.  The  food  and  the 
war  supplies  must  be  carried  across  the  seas  no  matter 
how  many  ships  are  sent  to  the  bottom.  The  places  of 
those  that  go  down  must  be  supplied  and  supplied  at 
once.  To  the  miner  let  me  say  that  he  stands  where  the 
farmer  does :  the  work  of  the  world  waits  on  him.  If  he 
slackens  or  fails,  armies  and  statesmen  are  helpless.  He 
also  is  enlisted  in  the  great  Service  Army.  The  manu- 
facturer does  not  need  to  be  told,  I  hope,  that  the  nation 
looks  to  him  to  speed  and  perfect  every  process;  and  I 
want  only  to  remind  his  employees  that  their  service  is 
absolutely  indispensable  and  is  counted  on  by  every  man 
who  loves  the  country  and  its  liberties. 

Let  me  suggest,  also,  that  everyone  vrho  creates  or  culti- 
vates a  garden  helps,  and  helps  greatly,  to  solve  the 
problem  of  the  feeding  of  the  nations;  and  that  every 
housewife  who  practices  strict  economy  puts  herself  in 
the  ranks  of  those  who  serve  the  nation.  This  is  the  time 


GREAT  SPEECHES  29 

for  America  to  correct  her  unpardonable  fault  of  waste- 
fulness and  extravagance.  Let  every  man  and  every 
woman  assume  the  duty  of  careful,  provident  use  and 
expenditure  as  a  public  duty,  as  a  dictate  of  patriotism, 
which  no  one  can  now  expect  ever  to  be  excused  or  for- 
given for  ignoring. 

In  the  hope  that  this  statement  of  the  needs  of  the 
nation  and  of  the  world  in  this  hour  of  supreme  crisis  may 
stimulate  those  to  whom  it  comes  and  remind  all  who  need 
reminder  of  the  solemn  duties  of  a  time  such  as  the  world 
has  never  seen  before,  I  beg  that  all  editors  and  pub- 
lishers everywhere  will  give  as  prominent  publication 
and  as  wide  circulation  as  possible  to  this  appeal.  I 
yenture  to  suggest,  also,  to  all  advertising  agencies  that 
they  would  perhaps  render  a  very  substantial  and  timely 
service  to  the  country  if  they  would  give  it  widespread 
repetition.  And  I  hope  that  clergymen  will  not  think 
the  theme  of  it  an  unworthy  or  inappropriate  subject  of 
comment  and  homily  from  their  pulpits. 

The  supreme  test  of  the  nation  has  come.  We  must 
all  speak,  act,  and  serve  together ! 

WOODBOW  WILSON. 


THE  ARMY  DRAFT  LAW 

Essential  Provisions  as  Quoted  by  the  President  in  His 

Proclamation  of  May  18,  1917,  Setting  the 

Day  of  Registration 

SEC.  5.  That  all  male  persons  between  the  ages  of  21 
and  30,  both  inclusive,  shall  be  subject  to  registration  in 
accordance  with  regulations  to  be  prescribed  by  the  presi- 
dent; and  upon  proclamation  by  the  president  or  other 
public  notice  given  by  him  or  by  his  direction  stating  the 
time  and  place  of  such  registration  it  shall  be  the  duty 
of  all  persons  of  the  designated  ages,  except  officers  and 
enlisted  men  of  the  regular  army,  the  navy,  and  the  na- 
tional guard  and  naval  militia,  while  in  the  service  of  the 
United  States,  to  present  themselves  for  and  submit  to 
registration  under  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  every 
such  person  shall  be  deemed  to  have  notice  of  the  re- 
quirements of  this  act  upon  the  publication  of  said  proc- 
lamation or  other  notice  as  aforesaid  given  by  the  presi- 
dent or  by  his  direction ;  and  any  person  who  shall  will- 
fully fail  or  refuse  to  present  himself  for  registration  or 
to  submit  thereto  as  herein  provided  shall  be  guilty  of  a 
misdemeanor,  and  shall,  upon  conviction  in  the  District 
court  of  the  United  States  having  jurisdiction  thereof, 
be  punished  by  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  one  year, 
and  shall  thereupon  be  duly  registered,  provided  that  in 
the  call  of  the  docket  precedence  shall  be  given  in  courts 
trying  the  same  to  the  trial  of  criminal  proceedings  under 
this  act. 

30 


AKMY  DRAFT  LAW  31 

Provided  further,  that  persons  shall  be  subject  to  reg- 
istration, as  herein  provided,  who  shall  have  attained 
their  twenty-first  birthday  and  who  shall  not  have  at- 
tained their  thirty-first  birthday  on  or  before  the  day 
set  for  the  registration,  and  all  persons  so  registered  shall 
be  and  remain  subject  to  draft  into  the  forces  hereby  au- 
thorized, unless  exempted  or  excused  therefrom  as  in  this 
act  provided. 

Provided,  further,  that  in  the  case  of  temporary  ab- 
sence from  actual  place  of  legal  residence  of  any  person 
liable  to  registration  as  provided  herein,  such  registra- 
tion may  be  made  by  mail  under  regulations  to  be  pre- 
scribed by  the  president. 

SEC.  6.  That  the  president  is  hereby  authorized  to 
utilize  the  service  of  any  or  all  departments  and  any  or 
all  officers  or  agents  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  sev- 
eral states,  territories,  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  and 
subdivisions  thereof,  in  the  execution  of  this  act,  and  all 
officers  and  agents  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  several 
states,  territories,  and  subdivisions  thereof,  and  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  all  persons  designated  or  ap- 
pointed under  regulations  prescribed  by  the  president, 
whether  such  appointments  are  made  by  the  president 
himself  or  by  the  governor  or  other  officer  of  any  state 
or  territory  to  perform  any  duty  in  the  execution  of  this 
act,  are  hereby  required  to  perform  such  duty  as  the 
president  shall  order  or  direct,  and  all  such  officers  and 
agents  and  persons  so  designated  or  appointed  shall 
hereby  have  full  authority  for  all  acts  done  by  them  in 
the  execution  of  this  act  by  the  direction  of  the  president. 
Correspondence  in  the  execution  of  this  act  may  be  car- 
ried in  penalty  envelopes  bearing  the  frank  of  the  war 
department. 

Any  person  charged  as  herein  provided  with  the  duty 


32  AEMY  DRAFT  LAW 

of  carrying  into  effect  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  act 
or  the  regulations  made  or  directions  given  thereunder 
who  shall  fail  or  neglect  to  perform  such  duty,  and  any 
person  charged  with  such  duty  or  having  and  exercising 
any  authority  under  said  act,  regulations,  or  directions 
who  shall  knowingly  make  or  be  a  party  to  the  making 
of  any  false  or  incorrect  registration,  physical  examina- 
tion, exemption,  enlistment,  enrollment,  or  muster;  and 
any  person  who  shall  make  or  be  a  party  to  the  making 
of  any  false  statement  or  certificate  as  to  the  fitness  or 
liability  of  himself  or  any  other  person  for  service  under 
the  provisions  of  this  act  or  regulations  made  by  the 
president  thereunder,  or  otherwise  evades  or  aids  another 
to  evade  the  requirements  of  this  act  or  of  said  regula- 
tions, or  who,  in  any  manner,  shall  fail  or  neglect  fully 
to  perform  any  duty  required  of  him  in  the  execution  of 
this  act,  shall,  if  not  subject  to  military  law,  be  guilty  of 
a  misdemeanor,  and,  upon  conviction  in  the  District  court 
of  the  United  States  having  jurisdiction  thereof,  be  pun- 
ished by  imprisonment  for  not  more  than  one  year,  or, 
if  subject  to  military  law,  shall  be  tried  by  court  martial 
and  suffer  such  punishment  as  a  court  martial  may  direct. 


PROCLAMATION  OF  MAY  18,  1917 

Naming  the  Day  of  Registration   (June  5)   for  All 
Citizens  Liable  to  Draft  Under  the  Provi- 
sions of  the  Foregoing  Law 

I,  "Woodrow  Wilson,  president  of  the  United  States, 
do  call  upon  the  governor  of  each  of  the  several  states  and 
territories,  the  board  of  commissioners  of  the  District  of 
Columbia,  and  all  officers  and  agents  of  the  several  states 
and  territories,  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  of  the 
Bounties  and  municipalities  therein,  to  perform  certain 
duties  in  the  execution  of  the  foregoing  law,  which  duties 
will  be  communicated  to  them  directly  in  regulations  of 
even  date  herewith. 

And  I  do  further  proclaim  and  give  notice  to  all  per- 
sons subject  to  registration  in  the  several  states  and  in 
the  District  of  Columbia  in  accordance  with  the  above 
law,  that  the  time  and  place  of  such  registration  shall  be 
between  7  a.  m.  and  9  p.  m.  on  the  5th  day  of  June,  1917, 
at  the  registration  place  in  the  precinct  wherein  they  hare 
their  permanent  homes. 

Those  who  shall  have  attained  their  twenty-first  birth- 
day and  who  shall  not  have  attained  their  thirty-first 
birthday  on  or  before  the  day  here  named  are  required 
to  register,  excepting  only  officers  and  enlisted  men  of 
the  regular  army,  the  navy,  the  marine  corps,  and  the 
national  guard  and  naval  militia  while  in  the  service  of 
the  United  States,  and  officers  in  the  officers'  reserve  corps 
and  enlisted  men  in  the  enlisted  reserve  corps  while  in 
active  service. 

33 


34  PKESIDENT  WILSON'S 

In  the  territories  of  Alaska,  Hawaii,  and  Porto  Rico  a 
day  for  registration  will  be  named  in  a  later  proclamation. 

And  I  do  charge  those  who,  through  sickness,  shall  be 
unable  to  present  themselves  for  registration  that  they 
apply  on  or  before  the  day  of  registration  to  the  county 
clerk  of  the  county  where  they  may  be  for  instructions  as 
to  how  they  may  be  registered  by  agent. 

Those  who  expect  to  be  absent  on  the  day  named  from 
the  counties  in  which  they  have  their  permanent  homes 
may  register  by  mail,  but  their  mailed  registration  cards 
must  reach  the  places  in  which  they  have  their  perma- 
nent homes  by  the  day  named  herein.  They  should  apply 
as  soon  as  practicable  to  the  county  clerk  of  the  county 
wherein  they  may  be  for  instructions  as  to  how  they  may 
accomplish  their  registration  by  mail. 

In  case  such  persons  as,  through  sickness  or  absence, 
may  be  unable  to  present  themselves  personally  for  reg- 
istration shall  be  sojourning  in  cities  of  over  30,000  pop- 
ulation they  shall  apply  to  the  city  clerk  of  the  city 
wherein  they  may  be  sojourning  rather  than  to  the  clerk 
of  the  county. 

The  clerks  of  counties  and  of  cities  of  over  30,000  popu- 
lation in  which  numerous  applications  from  the  sick  and 
from  nonresidents  are  expected  are  authorized  to  estab- 
lish such  sub-agencies  and  to  employ  and  deputize  such 
clerical  force  as  may  be  necessary  to  accommodate  these 
applications. 

The  power  against  which  we  are  arrayed  has  sought  to 
impose  its  will  upon  the  world  by  force.  To  this  end  it 
has  increased  armament  until  it  has  changed  the  face  of 
war.  In  the  sense  in  which  we  have  been  wont  to  think 
of  armies  there  are  no  armies  in  this  struggle.  There  are 
entire  nations  armed.  Thus,  the  men  who  remain  to  till 


GREAT  SPEECHES  35 

the  soil  and  man  the  factories  are  no  less  a  part  of  the 
army  than  the  men  beneath  the  battle  flags.  It  must  be 
so  with  us.  It  is  not  an  army  that  we  must  shape  and 
train  for  war ;  it  is  a  nation. 

To  this  end  our  people  must  draw  close  in  one  compact 
front  against  a  common  foe.  But  this  cannot  be  if  each 
man  pursue  a  private  purpose.  All  must  pursue  one  pur- 
pose. The  nation  needs  all  men ;  but  it  needs  each  man, 
not  in  the  field  that  will  most  pleasure  him,  but  in  the 
endeavor  that  will  best  serve  the  common  good. 

Thus,  though  a  sharpshooter  pleases  to  operate  a  trip- 
hammer for  the  forging  of  great  guns,  and  an  expert 
machinist  desires  to  march  with  the  flag,  the  nation  is 
being  served  only  when  the  sharpshooter  marches  and 
the  machinist  remains  at  his  levers.  The  whole  nation 
must  be  a  team  in  which  each  man  shall  play  the  part  for 
which  he  is  best  fitted.  To  this  end  congress  has  pro- 
vided that  the  nation  shall  be  organized  for  war  by  selec- 
tion and  that  each  man  shall  be  classified  for  service  in 
the  place  to  which  it  shall  best  serve  the  general  good  to 
call  him. 

The  significance  of  this  cannot  be  overstated.  It  is  a 
new  thing  in  our  history  and  a  landmark  in  our  progress. 
It  is  a  new  manner  of  accepting  and  vitalizing  our  duty 
to  give  ourselves  with  thoughtful  devotion  to  the  common 
purpose  of  us  all.  It  is  in  no  sense  a  conscription  of  the 
unwilling ;  it  is  rather  selection  from  a  nation  which  has 
volunteered  in  mass.  It  is  no  more  a  choosing  of  those 
who  shall  march  with  the  colors  than  it  is  a  selection  of 
those  who  shall  serve  an  equally  necessary  and  devoted 
purpose  in  the  industries  that  lie  behind  the  battle  line. 

The  day  here  named  is  the  time  upon  which  all  shall 
present  themselves  for  assignment  to  their  tasks.  It  is 
for  that  reason  destined  to  be  remembered  as  one  of  the 


36  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

most  conspicuous  moments  in  our  history.  It  is  nothing 
less  than  the  day  upon  which  the  manhood  of  the  country 
shall  step  forward  in  one  solid  rank  in  defense  of  the 
ideals  to  which  this  nation  is  consecrated.  It  is  impor- 
tant to  those.ideals  no  less  than  to  the  pride  of  this  gen- 
eration in  manifesting  its  devotion  to  them  that  there 
be  no  gaps  in  the  ranks. 

It  is  essential  that  the  day  be  approached  in  thoughtful 
apprehension  of  its  significance  and  that  we  accord  to  it 
the  honor  and  the  meaning  that  it  deserves. 

Our  industrial  need  prescribes  that  it  be  not  made  a 
technical  holiday,  but  the  stern  sacrifice  that  is  before  us 
urges  that  it  be  carried  in  all  our  hearts  as  a  great  day  of 
patriotic  devotion  and  obligation  when  the  duty  shall  lie 
upon  every  man,  whether  he  is  himself  to  be  registered  or 
not,  to  see  to  it  that  the  name  of  every  male  person  of 
the  designated  ages  is  written  on  these  lists  of  honor. 

In  witness  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and 
caused  the  seal  of  the  United  States  to  be  affixed. 

Done  at  the  city  of  "Washington  this  18th  day  of  May 
in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
seventeen  and  of  the  independence  of  the  United  States 
of  America  the  one  hundred  and  forty-first. 

WOODROW  WILSON. 


DECLINES  COL.  ROOSEVELT'S  OFFER 

When  Congress  authorized  Mr.  Wilson  to  accept  Col. 
Roosevelt's  offer  to  raise  four  divisions  of  volunteer 
troops  for  ' '  immediate  service  in  Prance, ' '  the  President 
declined  to  avail  himself  of  the  authority,  and  made 
the  following  statement,  May  18,  1917: 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  37 

I  shall  not  avail  myself,  at  any  rate  at  the  present  stage 
of  the  war,  of  the  authorization  conferred  by  the  act  to 
organize  volunteer  divisions.  To  do  so  would  seriously 
interfere  with  the  carrying  out  of  the  chief  and  most 
immediately  important-purpose  contemplated  by  this  leg- 
islation, the  prompt  creation  and  early  use  of  an  effective 
army,  and  would  contribute  practically  nothing  to  the 
effective  strength  of  the  armies  now  engaged  against 
Germany. 

I  understand  that  the  section  of  this  act  which  author- 
izes the  creation  of  volunteer  divisions  in  addition  to  the 
draft  was  added  with  a  view  to  providing  an  independent 
command  for  Mr.  Roosevelt  and  giving  the  military  au- 
thorities an  opportunity  to  use  his  fine  vigor  and  enthu- 
siasm in  recruiting  the  forces  now  at  the  western  front. 

It  would  be  very  agreeable  to  me  to  pay  Mr.  Roosevelt 
this  compliment,  and  the  allies  the  compliment  of  sending 
to  their  aid  one  of  our  most  distinguished  public  men,  an 
ex-president  who  has  rendered  many  conspicuous  public 
services  and  proved  his  gallantry  in  many  striking  ways. 
Politically,  too,  it  would  no  doubt  have  a  very  fine  effect 
and  make  a  profound  impression.  But  this  is  not  the 
time  or  the  occasion  for  compliment  or  for  any  action  not 
calculated  to  contribute  to  the  immediate  success  of  the 
vrar. 

The  business  now  in  hand  is  undramatic,  practical,  and 
of  scientific  definiteness  and  precision.  I  shall  act  with 
regard  to  it  at  every  step  and  in  every  particular  under 
expert  and  professional  advice,  from  both  sides  of  the 
water. 

That  advice  is  that  the  men  most  needed  are  men  of 
the  ages  contemplated  in  the  draft  provisions  of  the  pres- 
ent bill,  not  men  of  the  age  and  sort  contemplated  in  the 
section  which  authorizes  the  formation  of  volunteer  units, 


38  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

and  that  for  the  preliminary  training  of  the  men  who 
are  to  be  drafted  we  shall  need  all  of  our  experienced 
officers. 

Mr.  Roosevelt  told  me,  when  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  him  a  few  weeks  ago,  that  he  would  wish  to  have 
associated  with  him  some  of  the  most  effective  officers  of 
the  regular  army.  He  named  many  of  those  whom  he 
would  desire  to  have  designated  for  the  service,  and  they 
were  men  who  cannot  possibly  be  spared  from  the  too 
small  force  of  officers  at  our  command  for  the  much  more 
pressing  and  necessary  duty  of  training  regular  troops 
to  be  put  into  the  field  in  France  and  Belgium  as  fast  as 
they  can  be  got  ready. 

The  first  troops  sent  to  France  will  be  taken  from  the 
present  forces  of  the  regular  army  and  will  be  under  the 
command  of  trained  soldiers  only. 

The  responsibility  for  the  successful  conduct  of  our 
own  part  in  this  great  war  rests  upon  me.  I  could  not 
escape  it  if  I  would.  I  am  too  much  interested  in  the 
cause  we  are  fighting  for  to  be  interested  in  anything  but 
success.  The  issues  involved  are  too  immense  for  me  to 
take  into  consideration  anything  whatever  except  the 
best,  most  effective,  most  immediate  means  of  military 
action. 

What  these  means  are  I  know  from  the  mouths  of  men 
who  have  seen  war  as  it  is  now  conducted,  who  have  no 
illusions,  and  to  whom  the  whole  grim  matter  is  a  matter 
of  business.  I  shall  center  my  attention  upon  those 
means  and  let  everything  else  wait.  I  should  be  deeply 
to  blame  should  I  do  otherwise,  whatever  the  argument 
of  policy  or  of  personal  gratification  or  advantage. 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  39 

STATEMENT  ON  THE  FOOD  LAW 

President  Wilson's  Explanation,  May  19,  1917,  of  the 
Food-Control  Program  of  the  Administration 

It  is  very  desirable,  in  order  to  prevent  misunderstand- 
ings or  alarms  and  to  assure  co-operation  in  a  vital  matter, 
that  the  country  should  understand  exactly  the  scope  and 
purpose  of  the  very  great  powers  which  I  have  thought  it 
necessary  in  the  circumstances  to  ask  the  Congress  to  put 
in  my  hands  with  regard  to  our  food  supplies. 

Those  powers  are  very  great  indeed,  but  they  are  no 
greater  than  it  has  proved  necessary  to  lodge  in  the  other 
governments  which  are  conducting  this  momentous  war, 
and  their  object  is  stimulation  and  conservation,  not  ar- 
bitrary restraint  or  injurious  interference  with  the  nor- 
mal processes  of  production.  They  are  intended  to 
benefit  and  assist  the  farmer  and  all  those  who  play  a 
legitimate  part  in  the  preparation,  distribution  and  mar- 
keting of  foodstuffs. 

It  is  proposed  to  draw  a  sharp  line  of  distinction  be- 
tween the  normal  activities  of  the  government  represented 
in  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  reference  to  food 
production,  conservation  and  marketing  on  the  one  hand 
and  the  emergency  activities  necessitated  by  the  war  in 
reference  to  the  regulation  of  food  distribution  and  con- 
sumption on  the  other. 

All  measures  intended  directly  to  extend  the  normal 
activities  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  in  reference 
to  the  production,  conservation  and  the  marketing  of 
farm  crops,  will  be  administered,  as  in  normal  times, 
through  that  department,  and  the  powers  asked  for  over 
distribution  and  consumption,  over  exports,  imports, 


40  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

prices,  purchase  and  requisition  of  commodities,  storing 
and  the  like  which  may  require  regulation  during  the 
war  will  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  commissioner  of  food 
administration  appointed  by  the  President  and  directly 
responsible  to  him. 

The  objects  sought  to  be  served  by  the  legislation  asked 
for  are:  Full  inquiry  into  the  existing  available  stocks 
of  foodstuffs  and  into  the  costs  and  practices  of  the  vari- 
ous food-producing  and  distributing  trades;  the  preven- 
tion of  all  unwarranted  hoarding  of  every  kind  and  of 
the  control  of  the  foodstuffs  by  persons  who  are  not  in 
any  legitimate  sense  producers,  dealers  or  traders;  the 
requisitioning  when  necessary  for  the  public  use  of  food 
supplies  and  of  the  equipment  necessary  for  handling 
them  properly ;  the  licensing  of  wholesome  and  legitimate 
mixtures  and  milling  percentages,  and  the  prohibition  of 
the  unnecessary  or  wasteful  use  of  foods. 

Authority  is  asked  also  to  establish  prices — but  not  in 
order  to  limit  the  profits  of  the  farmers,  but  only  to  guar- 
antee to  them  when  necessary  a  minimum  price  which  will 
insure  them  a  profit  where  they  are  asked  to  attempt  new 
crops,  and  to  secure  the  consumer  against  extortion  by 
breaking  up  corners  and  attempts  at  speculation  when 
they  occur  by  fixing  temporarily  a  reasonable  price  at 
which  middlemen  must  sell. 

I  have  asked  Mr.  Herbert  C.  Hoover  to  undertake  this 
all-important  task  of  food  administration.  He  has  ex- 
pressed his  willingness  to  do  so  on  condition  that  he  is  to 
receive  no  payment  for  his  services  and  that  the  whole  of 
the  force  under  him,  exclusive  of  clerical  assistance,  shall 
be  employed  so  far  as  possible  upon  the  same  volunteer 
basis.  He  has  expressed  his  confidence  that  this  difficult 


GREAT  SPEECHES  41 

matter  of  food  administration  can  be  successfully  accom- 
plished through  the  voluntary  co-operation  and  direction 
of  legitimate  distributors  of  foodstuffs  and  with  the  help 
of  the  women  of  the  country. 

Although  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  unquestion- 
able powers  shall  be  placed  in  my  hands  in  order  to  insure 
the  success  of  this  administration  of  the  food  supplies  of 
the  country,  I  am  confident  that  the  exercise  of  those 
powers  will  be  necessary  only  in  the  few  cases  where  some 
small  and  selfish  minority  proves  unwilling  to  put  the 
nation 's  interests  above  personal  advantage,  and  that  the 
whole  country  will  heartily  support  Mr.  Hoover's  efforts 
by  supplying  the  necessary  volunteer  agencies  through- 
out the  country  for  the  intelligent  control  of  food  con- 
sumption and  securing  the  co-operation  of  the  most  capa- 
ble leaders  of  the  very  interests  most  directly  affected, 
that  the  exercise  of  the  powers  deputed  to  him  will  rest 
very  successfully  upon  the  good-will  and  co-operation  of 
the  people  themselves,  and  that  the  ordinary  economic 
machinery  of  the  country  will  be  left  substantially  undis- 
turbed. 

The  proposed  food  administration  is  intended,  of 
course,  only  to  meet  a  manifest  emergency  and  to  con- 
tinue only  while  the  war  lasts.  Since  it  will  be  com- 
posed for  the  most  part  of  volunteers  there  need  be  no 
fear  of  the  possibility  of  a  permanent  bureaucracy  arising 
out  of  it.  All  control  of  consumption  will  disappear 
when  the  emergency  has  passed.  It  is  with  that  object 
in  view  that  the  administration  considers  it  to  be  of  pre- 
eminent importance  that  the  existing  associations  of  pro- 
ducers and  distributors  of  foodstuffs  should  be  mobilized 
and  made  use  of  on  a  volunteer  basis. 

This  successful  conduct  of  the  projected  food  adminis- 


42  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

tration  by  such  means  will  be  the  finest  possible  demon- 
stration of  the  willingness,  the  ability  and  the  efficiency 
of  democracy,  and  of  its  justified  reliance  upon  the  free- 
dom of  individual  initiative.  The  last  thing  that  any 
American  could  contemplate  with  equanimity  would  be 
the  introduction  of  anything  resembling  Prussian  autoc- 
racy into  the  food  control  of  this  country. 

It  is  of  vital  interest  and  importance  to  every  man  who 
produces  food  and  to  every  man  who  takes  part  in  its 
distribution  that  these  policies  thus  liberally  adminis- 
tered should  succeed  and  succeed  altogether.  It  is  only 
in  that  way  that  we  can  prove  it  to  be  absolutely  unnec- 
essary to  resort  to  the  rigorous  and  drastic  measures 
which  have  proved  to  be  necessary  in  some  of  the  Euro- 
pean countries. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  43 

AMERICAN  NEUTRALITY 

Statement  of  the  President,  August  19,  1914,  in  the 
Early  Days  of  the  Great  War 

MY  FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN  : 

I  suppose  that  every  thoughtful  man  in  America  has 
asked  himself,  during  these  last  troubled  weeks,  what 
influence  the  European  war  may  exert  upon  the  United 
States,  and  I  take  the  liberty  of  addressing  a  few  words 
to  you  in  order  to  point  out  that  it  is  entirely  within  our 
own  choice  what  its  effects  upon  us  will  be  and  to  urge 
very  earnestly  upon  you  the  sort  of  speech  and  conduct 
which  will  best  safeguard  the  Nation  against  distress 
and  disaster. 

The  effect  of  the  war  upon  the  United  States  will  de- 
pend upon  what  American  citizens  say  and  do.  Every 
man  who  really  loves  America  will  act  and  speak  in  the 
true  spirit  of  neutrality,  which  is  the  spirit  of  impar- 
tiality and  fairness  and  friendliness  to  all  concerned. 
The  spirit  of  the  Nation  in  this  critical  matter  will  be 
determined  largely  by  what  individuals  and  society  and 
those  gathered  in  public  meetings  do  and  say,  upon  what 
newspapers  and  magazines  contain,  upon  what  ministers 
utter  in  their  pulpits,  and  men  proclaim  as  their  opinions 
on  the  street. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  are  drawn  from  many 
nations,  and  chiefly  from  the  nations  now  at  war.  It  is 
natural  and  inevitable  that  there  should  be  the  utmost 
variety  of  sympathy  and  desire  among  them  with  regard 
to  the  issues  and  circumstances  of  the  conflict.  Some 
will  wish  one  nation,  others  another,  to  succeed  in  the 
momentous  struggle.  It  will  be  easy  to  excite  passion 
and  difficult  to  allay  it.  Those  responsible  for  exciting  it 


44  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

will  assume  a  heavy  responsibility,  responsibility  for  no 
less  a  thing  than  that  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
whose  love  of  their  country  and  whose  loyalty  to  its  Gov- 
ernment should  unite  them  as  Americans  all,  bound  in 
honor  and  affection  to  think  first  of  her  and  her  interests, 
may  be  divided  in  camps  of  hostile  opinion,  hot  against 
each  other,  involved  in  the  war  itself  in  impulse  and 
opinion  if  not  in  action. 

Such  divisions  among  us  would  be  fatal  to  our  peace 
of  mind  and  might  seriously  stand  in  the  way  of  the 
proper  performance  of  our  duty  as  the  one  great  nation 
at  peace,  the  one  people  holding  itself  ready  to  play  a 
part  of  impartial  mediation  and  speak  the  counsels  of 
peace  and  accommodation,  not  as  a  partisan,  but  as  a 
friend. 

I  venture,  therefore,  my  fellow-countrymen,  to  speak 
a  solemn  word  of  warning  to  you  against  that  deepest, 
most  subtle,  most  essential  breach  of  neutrality  which 
may  spring  out  of  partisanship,  out  of  passionately  taking 
sides.  The  United  States  must  be  neutral  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  name  during  these  days  that  are  to  try  men 's  souls. 
We  must  be  impartial  in  thought  as  well  as  in  action, 
must  put  a  curb  upon  our  sentiments  as  well  as  upon 
every  transaction  that  might  be  construed  as  a  preference 
of  one  party  to  the  struggle  before  another. 

My  thought  is  of  America.  I  am  speaking,  I  feel  sure, 
the  earnest  wish  and  purpose  of  every  thoughtful  Amer- 
ican that  this  great  country  of  ours,  which  is,  of  course, 
the  first  in  our  thoughts  and  in  our  hearts,  should  show 
herself  in  this  time  of  peculiar  trial  a  Nation  fit  beyond 
others  to  exhibit  the  fine  poise  of  undisturbed  judgment, 
the  dignity  of  self-control,  the  efficiency  of  dispassionate 
action;  a  Nation  that  neither  sits  in  judgment  upon 


GREAT  SPEECHES  45 

others  nor  is  disturbed  in  her  own  counsels  and  which 
keeps  herself  fit  and  free  to  do  what  is  honest  and  disin- 
terested and  truly  serviceable  for  the  peace  of  the  world. 
Shall  we  not  resolve  to  put  upon  ourselves  the  restraints 
which  will  bring  to  our  people  the  happiness  and  the  great 
and  lasting  influence  for  peace  we  covet  for  them  ? 


46  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ADDRESS  TO  CONGRESS  ON  RAISING 
ADDITIONAL  REVENUE 

September  4,  1914 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONGRESS: 

I  come  to  you  today  to  discharge  a  duty  which  I  wish 
with  all  my  heart  I  might  have  been  spared ;  but  it  is  a 
very  clear  duty,  and  therefore  I  perform  it  without  hesi- 
tation or  apology.  I  come  to  ask  very  earnestly  that 
additional  revenue  be  provided  for  the  Government. 

During  the  month  of  August  there  was,  as  compared 
with  the  corresponding  month  of  last  year,  a  falling  off 
of  $10,629,538  in  the  revenues  collected  from  customs. 
A  continuation  of  this  decrease  in  the  same  proportion 
throughout  the  current  fiscal  year  would  probably  mean 
a  loss  of  customs  revenues  of  from  sixty  to  one  hundred 
millions.  I  need  not  tell  you  to  what  this  falling  off  is 
due.  It  is  due,  in  chief  part,  not  to  the  reductions  re- 
cently made  in  the  customs  duties,  but  to  the  great  de- 
crease in  importations ;  and  that  is  due  to  the  extraordi- 
nary extent  of  the  industrial  area  affected  by  the  present 
war  in  Europe.  Conditions  have  arisen  which  no  man 
foresaw ;  they  affect  the  whole  world  of  commerce  and  eco- 
nomic production ;  and  they  must  be  faced  and  dealt  with. 

It  would  be  very  unwise  to  postpone  dealing  with  them. 
Delay  in  such  a  matter  and  in  the  particular  circum- 
stances in  which  we  now  find  ourselves  as  a  nation  might 
involve  consequences  of  the  most  embarrassing  and  de- 
plorable sort,  for  which  I,  for  one,  would  not  care  to  be 
responsible.  It  would  be  very  dangerous  in  the  present 
circumstances  to  create  a  moment's  doubt  as  to  the 
strength  and  sufficiency  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States,  its  ability  to  assist,  to  steady,  and  sustain  the 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  47 

financial  operations  of  the  country's  business.  If  the 
Treasury  is  known,  or  even  thought,  to  be  weak,  where 
will  be  our  peace  of  mind  ?  The  whole  industrial  activity 
of  the  country  would  be  chilled  and  demoralized.  Just 
now  the  peculiarly  difficult  financial  problems  of  the  mo- 
ment are  being  successfully  dealt  with,  with  great  self- 
possession  and  good  sense  and  very  sound  judgment ;  but 
they  are  only  in  process  of  being  worked  out.  If  the 
process  of  solution  is  to  be  completed,  no  one  must  be 
given  reason  to  doubt  the  solidity  and  adequacy  of  the 
Treasury  of  the  Government  which  stands  behind  the 
whole  method  by  which  our  difficulties  are  being  met 
and  handled. 

The  Treasury  itself  could  get  along  for  a  considerable 
period,  no  doubt,  without  immediate  resort  to  new  sources 
of  taxation.  But  at  what  cost  to  the  business  of  the  com- 
munity? Approximately  $75,000,000,  a  large  part  of 
the  present  Treasury  balance,  is  now  on  deposit  with 
national  banks  distributed  throughout  the  country.  It 
is  deposited,  of  course,  on  call.  I  need  not  point  out  to 
you  what  the  probable  consequences  of  inconvenience  and 
distress  and  confusion  would  be  if  the  diminishing  in- 
come of  the  Treasury  should  make  it  necessary  rapidly  to 
withdraw  these  deposits.  And  yet  without  additional 
revenue  that  plainly  might  become  necessary,  and  the 
time  when  it  became  necessary  could  not  be  controlled 
or  determined  by  the  convenience  of  the  business  of  the 
country.  It  would  have  to  be  determined  by  the  opera- 
tions and  necessities  of  the  Treasury  itself.  Such  risks 
are  not  necessary  and  ought  not  to  be  run.  We  can  not 
too  scrupulously  or  carefully  safeguard  a  financial  situ- 
ation which  is  at  best,  while  war  continues  in  Europe,  dif- 
ficult and  abnormal.  Hesitation  and  delay  are  the  worst 
forms  of  bad  policy  under  such  conditions. 


48  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S, 

And  we  ought  not  to  borrow.  We  ought  to  resort  to 
taxation,  however  we  may  regret  the  necessity  of  putting 
additional  temporary  burdens  on  our  people.  To  sell 
bonds  would  be  to  make  a  most  untimely  and  unjustifiable 
demand  on  the  money  market ;  untimely,  because  this  is 
manifestly  not  the  time  to  withdraw  working  capital  from 
other  uses  to  pay  the  Government's  bills;  unjustifiable, 
because  unnecessary.  The  country  is  able  to  pay  any  just 
and  reasonable  taxes  without  distress.  And  to  every 
other  form  of  borrowing,  whether*  for  long  periods  or  for 
short,  there  is  the  same  objection.  These  are  not  the  cir- 
cumstances, this  is  at  this  particular  moment  and  in  this 
particular  exigency  not  the  market,  to  borrow  large  sums 
of  money.  What  we  are  seeking  is  to  ease  and  assist  every 
financial  transaction,  not  to  add  a  single  additional  em- 
barrassment to  the  situation.  The  people  of  this  country 
are  both  intelligent  and  profoundly  patriotic.  They  are 
ready  to  meet  the  present  conditions  in  the  right  way 
and  to  support  the  Government  with  generous  self-denial. 
They  know  and  understand,  and  will  be  intolerant  only 
of  those  who  dodge  responsibility  or  are  not  frank  with 
them. 

The  occasion  is  not  of  our  own  making.  We  had  no 
part  in  making  it.  But  it  is  here.  It  affects  us  as  di- 
rectly and  palpably  almost  as  if  we  were  participants  in 
the  circumstances  which  gave  rise  to  it.  We  must  accept 
the  inevitable  with  calm  judgment  and  unruffled  spirits, 
like  men  accustomed  to  deal  with  the  unexpected,  habitu- 
ated to  take  care  of  themselves,  masters  of  their  own 
affairs  and  their  own  fortunes.  We  shall  pay  the  bill, 
though  we  did  not  deliberately  incur  it. 

In  order  to  meet  every  demand  upon  the  Treasury  with- 
out delay  or  peradventure  and  in  order  to  keep  the  Treas- 
ury strong,  unquestionably  strong,  and  strong  throughout 


GREAT  SPEECHES  49 

the  present  anxieties,  I  respectfully  urge  that  an  addi- 
tional revenue  of  $100,000,000  be  raised  through  internal 
taxes  devised  in  your  wisdom  to  meet  the  emergency. 
The  only  suggestion  I  take  the  liberty  of  making  is  that 
such  sources  of  revenue  be  chosen  as  will  begin  to  yield 
at  once  and  yield  with  a  certain  and  constant  tiow. 

I  can  not  close  without  expressing  the  confidence  with 
which  I  approach  a  Congress,  with  regard  to  this  or  any 
other  matter,  which  has  shown  so  untiring  a  devotion  to 
public  duty,  which  has  responded  to  the  needs  of  the 
Nation  throughout  a  long  season  despite  inevitable  fatigue 
and  personal  sacrifice,  and  so  large  a  proportion  of  whose 
Members  have  devoted  their  whole  time  and  energy  to  the 
business  of  the  country. 


50  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ANNUAL  ADDRESS  (MESSAGE)  TO 
CONGRESS 

December  8,  1914 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONGRESS: 

The  session  upon  which  you  are  now  entering  will  be 
the  closing  session  of  the  Sixty-third  Congress,  a  Con- 
gress, I  venture  to  say,  which  will  long  be  remembered 
for  the  great  body  of  thoughtful  and  constructive  work 
which  it  has  done,  in  loyal  response  to  the  thought  and 
needs  of  the  country.  I  should  like  in  this  address  to 
review  the  notable  record  and  try  to  make  adequate  as- 
sessment of  it ;  but  no  doubt  we  stand  too  near  the  work 
that  has  been  done  and  are  ourselves  too  much  part  of 
it  to  play  the  part  of  historians  toward  it. 

Our  program  of  legislation  with  regard  to  the  regula- 
tion of  business  is  now  virtually  complete.  It  has  been 
put  forth,  as  we  intended,  as  a  whole,  and  leaves  no  con- 
jecture as  to  what  is  to  follow.  The  road  at  last  lies 
clear  and  firm  before  business.  It  is  a  road  which  it  can 
travel  without  fear  or  embarrassment.  It  is  the  road  to 
ungrudged,  unclouded  success.  In  it  every  honest  man, 
every  man  who  believes  that  the  public  interest  is  part 
of  his  own  interest,  may  walk  with  perfect  confidence. 

Moreover,  our  thoughts  are  now  more  of  the  future 
than  of  the  past.  While  we  have  worked  at  our  tasks  of 
peace  the  circumstances  of  the  whole  age  have  been  al- 
tered by  war.  What  we  have  done  for  our  own  land  and 
our  own  people  we  did  with  the  best  that  was  in  us, 
whether  of  character  or  of  intelligence,  with  sober  enthu- 
siasm and  a  confidence  in  the  principles  upon  which  we 
were  acting  which  sustained  us  at  every  step  of  the  diffi- 
cult undertaking ;  but  it  is  done.  It  has  passed  from  our 


GREAT  SPEECHES  51 

hands.  It  is  now  an  established  part  of  the  legislation 
of  the  country.  Its  usefulness,  its  effects  will  disclose 
themselves  in  experience.  What  chiefly  strikes  us  now, 
as  we  look  about  us  during  these  closing  days  of  a  year 
which  will  be  forever  memorable  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  is  that  we  face  new  tasks,  have  been  facing  them 
these  six  months,  must  face  them  in  the  months  to  come 
— face  them  without  partisan  feeling,  like  men  who  have 
forgotten  everything  but  a  common  duty  and  the  fact 
that  we  are  representatives  of  a  great  people  whose 
thought  is  not  of  us  but  of  what  America  owes  to  herself 
and  to  all  mankind  in  such  circumstances  as  these  upon 
which  we  look  amazed  and  anxious. 

War  has  interrupted  the  means  of  trade  not  only  but 
also  the  processes  of  production.  In  Europe  it  is  destroy- 
ing men  and  resources  wholesale  and  upon  a  scale  unpre- 
cedented and  appalling.  There  is  reason  to  fear  that  the 
time  is  near,  if  it  be  not  already  at  hand,  when  several 
of  the  countries  of  Europe  will  find  it  difficult  to  do  for 
their  people  what  they  have  hitherto  been  always  easily 
able  to  do — many  essential  and  fundamental  things.  At 
any  rate,  they  will  need  our  help  and  our  manifold  serv- 
ices as  they  have  never  needed  them  before;  and  we 
should  be  ready,  more  fit  and  ready  than  we  have  ever 
been. 

It  is  of  equal  consequence  that  the  nations  whom  Eu- 
rope has  usually  supplied  with  innumerable  articles  of 
manufacture  and  commerce  of  which  they  are  in  constant 
need  and  without  which  their  economic  development  halts 
and  stands  still,  can  now  get  only  a  small  part  of  what 
they  formerly  imported  and  eagerly  look  to  us  to  supply 
their  all  but  empty  markets.  This  is  particularly  true 
of  our  own  neighbors,  the  States,  great  and  small,  of  Cen- 
tral and  South  America.  Their  lines  of  trade  have  hith- 


52  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

erto  run  chiefly  athwart  the  seas,  not  to  our  ports  but  to 
the  ports  of  Great  Britain  and  of  the  older  continent  of 
Europe.  I  do  not  stop  to  inquire  why,  or  to  make  any 
comment  on  probable  causes.  What  interests  us  just  now 
is  not  the  explanation  but  the  fact,  and  our  duty  and 
opportunity  in  the  presence  of  it.  Here  are  markets 
which  we  must  supply,  and  we  must  find  the  means  of 
action.  The  United  States,  this  great  people  for  whom 
we  speak  and  act,  should  be  ready,  as  never  before,  to 
serve  itself  and  to  serve  mankind;  ready  with  its  re- 
sources, its  energies,  its  forces  of  production,  and  its 
means  of  distribution. 

It  is  a  very  practical  matter,  a  matter  of  ways  and 
means.  We  have  the  resources,  but  are  we  fully  ready  to 
use  them?  And,  if  we  can  make  ready  what  we  have, 
have  we  the  means  at  hand  to  distribute  it?  We  are 
not  fully  ready;  neither  have  we  the  means  of  distribu- 
tion. We  are  willing,  but  we  are  not  fully  able.  We 
have  the  wish  to  serve  and  to  serve  greatly,  generously; 
but  we  are  not  prepared  as  we  should  be.  We  are  not 
ready  to  mobilize  our  resources  at  once.  We  are  not 
prepared  to  use  them  immediately  and  at  their  best,  with- 
out delay  and  without  waste. 

To  speak  plainly,  we  have  grossly  erred  in  the  way  in 
which  we  have  stunted  and  hindered  the  development  of 
our  merchant  marine.  And  now,  when  we  need  ships,  we 
have  not  got  them.  We  have  year  after  year  debated, 
without  end  or  conclusion,  the  best  policy  to  pursue  with 
regard  to  the  use  of  the  ores  and  forests  and  water  powers 
of  our  national  domain  in  the  rich  States  of  the  West, 
when  we  should  have  acted ;  and  they  are  still  locked  up. 
The  key  is  still  turned  upon  them,  the  door  shut  fast  at 
which  thousands  of  vigorous  men,  full  of  initiative,  knock 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  .  53 

clamorously  for  admittance.  The  water  power  of  our 
navigable  streams  outside  the  national  domain  also,  even 
in  the  eastern  States,  where  we  have  worked  and  planned 
for  generations,  is  still  not  used  as  it  might  be,  because 
we  will  and  we  won 't ;  because  the  laws  we  have  made  do 
not  intelligently  balance  encouragement  against  restraint. 
We  withhold  by  regulation. 

I  have  come  to  ask  you  to  remedy  and  correct  these 
mistakes  and  omissions,  even  at  this  short  session  of  a 
Congress  which  would  certainly  seem  to  have  done  all 
the  work  that  could  reasonably  be  expected  of  it.  The 
time  and  the  circumstances  are  extraordinary,  and  so 
must  our  efforts  be  also. 

Fortunately,  two  great  measures,  finely  conceived,  the 
one  to  unlock,  with  proper  safeguards,  the  resources  of 
the  national  domain,  the  other  to  encourage  the  use  of 
the  navigable  waters  outside  that  domain  for  the  genera- 
tion of  power,  have  already  passed  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives and  are  ready  for  immediate  consideration  and 
action  by  the  Senate.  With  the  deepest  earnestness  I 
urge  their  prompt  passage.  In  them  both  we  turn  our 
backs  upon  hesitation  and  makeshift  and  formulate  a 
genuine  policy  of  use  and  conservation,  in  the  best  sense 
of  those  words.  We  owe  the  one  measure  not  only  to 
the  people  of  that  great  western  country  for  whose  free 
and  systematic  development,  as  it  seems  to  me,  our  legis- 
lation has  done  so  little,  but  also  to  the  people  of  the 
Nation  as  a  whole;  and  we  as  clearly  owe  the  other  in 
fulfillment  of  our  repeated  promises  that  the  water  power 
of  the  country  should  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name  be  put 
at  the  disposal  of  great  industries  which  can  make  eco- 
nomical and  profitable  use  of  it,  the  rights  of  the  public 
being  adequately  guarded  the  while,  and  monopoly  in 
the  use  prevented.  To  have  begun  such  measures  and 


54  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

not  completed  them  would  indeed  mar  the  record  of  this 
great  Congress  very  seriously.  I  hope  and  confidently 
believe  that  they  will  be  completed. 

And  there  is  another  great  piece  of  legislation  which 
awaits  and  should  receive  the  sanction  of  the  Senate:  I 
mean  the  bill  which  gives  a  larger  measure  of  self-gov- 
ernment to  the  people  of  the  Philippines.  How  better, 
in  this  time  of  anxjous  questioning  and  perplexed  policy, 
could  we  show  our  confidence  in  the  principles  of  lib- 
erty, as  the  source  as  well  as  the  expression  of  life,  how 
better  could  we  demonstrate  our  own  self-possession  and 
steadfastness  in  the  courses  of  justice  and  disinterested- 
ness than  by  thus  going  calmly  forward  to  fulfill  our 
promises  to  a  dependent  people,  who  will  now  look  more 
anxiously  than  ever  to  see  whether  we  have  indeed  the 
liberality,  the  unselfishness,  the  courage,  the  faith  we  have 
boasted  and  professed.  I  can  not  believe  that  the  Senate 
will  let  this  great  measure  of  constructive  justice  await 
the  action  of  another  Congress.  Its  passage  would 
nobly  crown  the  record  of  these  two  years  of  memorable 
labor. 

But  I  think  that  you  will  agree  with  me  that  this  does 
not  complete  the  toll  of  our  duty.  How  are  we  to  carry 
our  goods  to  the  empty  markets  of  which  I  have  spoken 
if  we  have  not  the  ships  ?  How  are  we  to  build  up  a  great 
trade  if  we  have  not  the  certain  and  constant  means  of 
transportation  upon  which  all  profitable  and  useful  com- 
merce depends  ?  And  how  are  we  to  get  the  ships  if  we 
wait  for  the  trade  to  develop  without  them  ?  To  correct 
the  many  mistakes  by  which  we  have  discouraged  and  all 
but  destroyed  the  merchant  marine  of  the  country,  to 
retrace  the  steps  by  which  we  have,  it  seems  almost  de- 
liberately, withdrawn  our  flag  from  the  seas,  except 


GSEAT  SPEECHES  55 

where,  here  and  there,  a  ship  of  war  is  bidden  carry  it 
or  some  wandering  yacht  displays  it,  would  take  a  long 
time  and  involve  many  detailed  items  of  legislation,  and 
the  trade  which  we  ought  immediately  to  handle  would 
disappear  or  find  other  channels  while  we  debated  the 
items. 

The  case  is  not  unlike  that  wHicH  confronted  us  when 
our  own  continent  was  to  be  opened  up  to  settlement  and 
industry,  and  we  needed  long  lines  of  railway,  extended 
means  of  transportation  prepared  beforehand,  if  devel- 
opment was  not  to  lag  intolerably  and  wait  interminably. 
We  lavishly  subsidized  the  building  of  transcontinental 
railroads.  We  look  back  upon  that  with  regret  now,  be- 
cause the  subsidies  led  to  many  scandals  of  which  we  are 
ashamed ;  but  we  know  that  the  railroads  had  to  be  built, 
and  if  we  had  it  to  do  over  again  we  should  of  course 
build  them,  but  in  another  way.  Therefore  I  propose 
another  way  of  providing  the  means  of  transportation, 
which  must  precede,  not  tardily  follow,  the  development 
of  our  trade  with  our  neighbor  states  of  America.  It  may 
seem  a  reversal  of  the  natural  order  of  things,  but  it  is 
true,  that  the  routes  of  trade  must  be  actually  opened — 
by  many  ships  and  regular  sailings  and  moderate  charges 
— before  streams  of  merchandise  will  flow  freely  and 
profitably  through  them. 

Hence  the  pending  shipping  bill,  discussed  at  the  last 
session  but  as  yet  passed  by  neither  House.  In  my  judg- 
ment such  legislation  is  imperatively  needed  and  can  not 
wisely  be  postponed.  The  Government  must  open  these 
gates  of  trade,  and  open  them  wide ;  open  them  before  it 
is  altogether  profitable  to  open  them,  or  altogether  rea- 
sonable to  ask  private  capital  to  open  them  at  a  venture. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  the  Government  monopolizing  the 
field.  It  should  take  action  to  make  it  certain  that  trans- 


56  PHESIDENT  WILSON'S 

portation  at  reasonable  rates  will  be  promptly  provided, 
even  where  the  carriage  is  not  at  first  profitable ;  and 
then,  when  the  carriage  has  become  sufficiently  profitable 
to  attract  and  engage  private  capital,  and  engage  it  in 
abundance,  the  Government  ought  to  withdraw.  I  very 
earnestly  hope  that  the  Congress  will  be  of  this  opinion, 
and  that  both  Houses  will  adopt  this  exceedingly  impor- 
tant bill. 

The  great  subject  of  rural  credits  still  remains  to  be 
dealt  with,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  deep  regret  that  the  diili- 
culties  of  the  subject  have  seemed  to  render  it  impossible 
to  complete  a  bill  for  passage  at  this  session.  But  it  can 
not  be  perfected  yet,  and  therefore  there  are  no  other 
constructive  measures  the  necessity  for  which  I  will  at 
this  time  call  your  attention  to ;  but  I  would  be  negligent 
of  a  very  manifest  duty  were  I  not  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  Senate  to  the  fact  that  the  proposed  convention  for 
safety  at  sea  awaits  its  confirmation  and  that  the  limit 
fixed  in  the  convention  itself  for  its  acceptance  is  the  last 
day  of  the  present  month.  The  conference  in  which  this 
convention  originated  was  called  by  the  United  States; 
the  representatives  of  the  United  States  played  a  very 
influential  part  indeed  in  framing  the  provisions  of  the 
proposed  convention ;  and  those  provisions  are  in  them- 
selves for  the  most  part  admirable.  It  would  hardly  be 
consistent  with  the  part  we  have  played  in  the  whole 
matter  to  let  it  drop  and  go  by  the  board  as  if  forgotten 
and  neglected.  It  was  ratified  in  May  last  by  the  German 
Government  and  in  August  by  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain.  It  marks  a  most  hopeful  and  decided  advance  in 
international  civilization.  "We  should  show  our  earnest 
good  faith  in  a  great  matter  by  adding  our  own  acceptance 
of  it. 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  57 

There  is  another  matter  of  which  I  must  make  special 
mention,  if  I  am  to  discharge  my  conscience,  lest  it  should 
escape  your  attention.  It  may  seem  a  very  small  thing. 
It  affects  only  a  single  item  of  appropriation.  But  many 
human  lives  and  many  great  enterprises  hang  upon  it. 
It  is  the  matter  of  making  adequate  provision  for  the 
survey  and  charting  of  our  coasts.  It  is  immediately 
pressing  and  exigent  in  connection  with  the  immense 
coast  line  of  Alaska,  a  coast  line  greater  than  that  of  the 
United  States  themselves,  though  it  is  also  very  impor- 
tant indeed  with  regard  to  the  older  coasts  of  the  conti- 
nent. We  can  not  use  our  great  Alaskan  domain,  ships 
will  not  ply  thither,  if  those  coasts  and  their  many  hidden 
dangers  are  not  thoroughly  surveyed  and  charted.  The 
work  is  incomplete  at  almost  every  point.  Ships  and 
lives  have  been  lost  in  threading  what  were  supposed  to 
be  well-known  main  channels.  "We  have  not  provided 
adequate  vessels  or  adequate  machinery  for  the  survey 
and  charting.  We  have  used  old  vessels  that  were  not 
big  enough  or  strong  enough  and  which  were  so  nearly 
unseaworthy  that  our  inspectors  would  not  have  allowed 
private  owners  to  send  them  to  sea.  This  is  a  matter 
which,  as  I  have  said,  seems  small,  but  is  in  reality  very 
great.  Its  importance  has  only  to  be  looked  into  to  be 
appreciated. 

Before  I  close  may  I  say  a  few  words  upon  two  topics, 
much  discussed  out  of  doors,  upon  which  it  is  highly  im- 
portant that  our  judgments  should  be  clear,  definite,  and 
steadfast  ? 

One  of  these  is  economy  in  government  expenditures. 
The  duty  of  economy  is  not  debatable.  It  is  manifest 
and  imperative.  In  the  appropriations  we  pass  we  are 
spending  the  money  of  the  great  people  whose  servants 


58  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

we  are — not  our  own.  We  are  trustees  and  responsible 
stewards  in  the  spending.  The  only  thing  debatable  and 
upon  which  we  should  be  careful  to  make  our  thought 
and  purpose  clear  is  the  kind  of  economy  demanded  of 
us.  I  assert  with  the  greatest  confidence  that  the  people 
of  the  United  States  are  not  jealous  of  the  amount  their 
Government  costs  if  they  are  sure  that  they  get  what 
they  need  and  desire  for  the  outlay,  that  the  money  is 
being  spent  for  objects  of  which  they  approve,  and  that 
it  is  being  applied  with  good  business  sense  and  manage- 
ment. 

Governments  grow,  piecemeal,  both  in  their  tasks  and 
in  the  means  by  which  those  tasks  are  to  be  performed, 
and  very  few  Governments  are  organized,  I  venture  to 
say,  as  wise  and  experienced  business  men  would  organize 
them  if  they  had  a  clean  sheet  of  paper  to  write  upon. 
Certainly  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  not. 
I  think  that  it  is  generally  agreed  that  there  should  be 
a  systematic  reorganization  and  reassembling  of  its  parts 
so  as  to  secure  greater  efficiency  and  effect  considerable 
savings  in  expense.  But  the  amount  of  money  saved  in 
that  way  would,  I  believe,  though  no  doubt  considerable 
in  itself,  running,  it  may  be,  into  the  millions,  be  rela- 
tively small — small,  I  mean,  in  proportion  to  the  total 
necessary  outlays  of  the  Government  It  would  be  thor- 
oughly worth  effecting,  as  every  saving  would,  great  or 
small.  Our  duty  is  not  altered  by  the  scale  of  the  saving. 
But  my  point  is  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  do 
not  wish  to  curtail  the  activities  of  this  Government ;  they 
wish,  rather,  to  enlarge  them;  and  with  every  enlarge- 
ment, with  the  mere  growth,  indeed,  of  the  country  itself, 
there  must  come,  of  course,  the  inevitable  increase  of  ex- 
pense. The  sort  of  economy  we  ought  to  practice  may  be 
effected,  and  ought  to  be  effected,  by  a  careful  study  and 


GREAT  SPEECHES  59 

assessment  of  the  tasks  to  be  performed ;  and  the  money 
spent  ought  to  be  made  to  yield  the  best  possible  returns 
in  efficiency  and  achievement.  And,  like  good  stewards, 
we  should  so  account  for  every  dollar  of  our  appropria- 
tions as  to  make  it  perfectly  evident  what  it  was  spent 
for  and  in  what  way  it  was  spent. 

It  is  not  expenditure  but  extravagance  that  we  should 
fear  being  criticized  for;  not  paying  for  the  legitimate 
enterprises  and  undertakings  of  a  great  Government 
whose  people  command  what  it  should  do,  but  adding 
what  will  benefit  only  a  few  or  pouring  money  out  for 
what  need  not  have  been  undertaken  at  all  or  might  have 
been  postponed  or  better  and  more  economically  con- 
ceived and  carried  out.  The  Nation  is  not  niggardly ;  it 
is  very  generous.  It  will  chide  us  only  if  we  forget  for 
whom  we  pay  money  out  and  whose  money  it  is  we  pay. 
These  are  large  and  general  standards,  but  they  are  not 
very  difficult  of  application  to  particular  cases. 

The  other  topic  I  shall  take  leave  to  mention  goes 
deeper  into  the  principles  of  our  national  life  and  policy. 
It  is  the  subject  of  national  defense. 

It  can  not  be  discussed  without  first  answering  some 
very  searching  questions.  It  is  said  in  some  quarters 
that  we  are  not  prepared  for  war.  What  is  meant  by 
being  prepared  ?  Is  it  meant  that  we  are  not  ready  upon 
brief  notice  to  put  a  nation  in  the  field,  a  nation  of  men 
trained  to  arms  ?  Of  course  we  are  not  ready  to  do  that ; 
and  we  shall  never  be  in  time  of  peace  so  long  as  we  retain 
our  present  political  principles  and  institutions.  And 
what  is  it  that  it  is  suggested  we  should  be  prepared  to  do  ? 
To  defend  ourselves  against  attack?  We  have  always 
found  means  to  do  that,  and  shall  find  them  whenever 
it  is  necessary  without  calling  our  people  away  from  their 


60  PRESIDENT  Y7ILSON'S 

necessary  tasks  to  render  compulsory  military  service  in 
times  of  peace. 

Allow  me  to  speak  with  great  plainness  and  directness 
upon  this  great  matter  and  to  avow  my  convictions  with 
deep  earnestness.  I  have  tried  to  know  what  America 
is,  W7hat  her  people  think,  what  they  are,  what  they  most 
cherish  and  hold  dear.  I  hope  that  some  of  their  finer 
passions  are  in  my  own  heart — some  of  the  great  concep- 
tions and  desires  which  gave  birth  to  this  Government 
and  which  have  made  the  voice  of  this  people  a  voice  of 
peace  and  hope  and  liberty  among  the  peoples  of  the 
world,  and  that,  speaking  my  own  thoughts,  I  shall,  at 
least  in  part,  speak  theirs  also,  however  faintly  and  inade- 
quately, upon  this  vital  matter. 

We  are  at  peace  with  all  the  world.  No  one  who  speaks 
counsel  based  on  fact  or  drawn  from  a  just  and  candid 
interpretation  of  realities  can  say  that  there  is  reason  to 
fear  that  from  any  quarter  our  independence  or  the  in- 
tegrity  of  our  territory  is  threatened.  Dread  of  the 
power  of  any  other  nation  we  are  incapable  of.  We  are 
not  jealous  of  rivalry  in  the  fields  of  commerce  or  of  any 
other  peaceful  achievement.  We  mean  to  live  our  own 
lives  as  we  will;  but  wre  mean  also  to  let  live.  We  are, 
indeed,  a  true  friend  to  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  be- 
cause we  threaten  none,  covet  the  possessions  of  none, 
desire  the  overthrow  of  none.  Our  friendship  can  be 
accepted  and  is  accepted  without  reservation,  because  it 
is  offered  in  a  spirit  and  for  a  purpose  which  no  one  need 
ever  question  or  suspect.  Therein  lies  our  greatness. 
We  are  the  champions  of  peace  and  of  concord.  And  we 
should  be  very  jealous  of  this  distinction  which  we  have 
sought  to  earn.  Just  now  we  should  be  particularly  jeal- 
ous of  it,  because  it  is  our  dearest  present  hope  that  this 
character  and  reputation  may  presently,  in  God's  provi- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  61 

dence,  bring  us  an  opportunity  such  as  has  seldom  been 
vouchsafed  any  nation,  the  opportunity  to  counsel  and 
obtain  peace  in  the  world  and  reconciliation  and  a  healing 
settlement  of  many  a  matter  that  has  cooled  and  inter- 
rupted the  friendship  of  nations.  This  is  the  time  above 
all  others  when  we  should  wish  and  resolve  to  keep  our 
strength  by  self-possession,  our  influence  by  preserving 
our  ancient  principles  of  action. 

From  the  first  we  have  had  a  clear  and  settled  policy 
with  regard  to  military  establishments.  We  never  have 
had,  and  while  we  retain  our  present  principles  and  ideals 
we  never  shall  have,  a  large  standing  army.  If  asked, 
Are  you  ready  to  defend  yourselves?  we  reply,  Most  as- 
suredly, to  the  utmost ;  and  yet  we  shall  not  turn  America 
into  a  military  camp.  We  will  not  ask  our  young  men 
to  spend  the  best  years  of  their  lives  making  soldiers  of 
themselves.  There  is  another  sort  of  energy  in  us.  It 
will  know  how  to  declare  itself  and  make  itself  effective 
should  occasion  arise.  And  especially  when  half  the 
world  is  on  fire  we  shall  be  careful  to  make  our  moral 
insurance  against  the  spread  of  the  conflagration  very 
definite  and  certain  and  adequate  indeed. 

Let  us  remind  ourselves,  therefore,  of  the  only  thing 
we  can  do  or  will  do.  We  must  depend  in  every  time  of 
national  peril,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  not  upon  a 
standing  army,  nor  yet  upon  a  reserve  army,  but  upon 
a  citizenry  trained  and  accustomed  to  arms.  It  will  be 
right  enough,  right  American  policy,  based  upon  our 
accustomed  principles  and  practices,  to  provide  a  system 
by  which  every  citizen  who  will  volunteer  for  the  train- 
ing may  be  made  familiar  with  the  use  of  modern  arms, 
the  rudiments  of  drill  and  maneuver,  and  the  mainte- 
nance and  sanitation  of  camps.  We  should  encourage 


62  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

such  training  and  make  it  a  means  of  discipline  which 
our  young  men  will  learn  to  value.  It  is  right  that  we 
should  provide  it  not  only,  but  that  we  should  make  it  as 
attractive  as  possible,  and  so  induce  our  young  men  to 
undergo  it  at  such  times  as  they  can  command  a  little 
freedom  and  can  seek  the  physical  development  they 
need,  for  mere  health 's  sake,  if  for  nothing  more.  Every 
means  by  which  such  things  can  be  stimulated  is  legiti- 
mate, and  such  a  method  smacks  of  true  American  ideas. 
It  is  right,  too,  that  the  National  Guard  of  the  States 
should  be  developed  and  strengthened  by  every  means 
which  is  not  inconsistent  with  our  obligations  to  our  own 
people  or  with  the  established  policy  of  our  Government. 
And  this,  also,  not  because  the  time  or  occasion  specially 
calls  for  such  measures,  but  because  it  should  be  our  con- 
stant policy  to  make  these  provisions  for  our  national 
peace  and  safety. 

More  than  this  carries  with  it  a  reversal  of  the  whole 
history  and  character  of  our  polity.  More  than  this, 
proposed  at  this  time,  permit  me  to  say,  would  mean 
merely  that  we  had  lost  our  self-possession,  that  we  had 
been  thrown  off  our  balance  by  a  war  with  which  we  have 
nothing  to  do,  whose  causes  can  not  touch  us,  whose  very 
existence  affords  us  opportunities  of  friendship  and  dis- 
interested service  which  should  make  us  ashamed  of  any 
thought  of  hostility  or  fearful  preparation  for  trouble. 
This  is  assuredly  the  opportunity  for  which  a  people  and 
a  government  like  ours  were  raised  up,  the  opportunity 
not  only  to  speak  but  actually  to  embody  and  exemplify 
the  counsels  of  peace  and  amity  and  the  lasting  concord 
which  is  based  on  justice  and  fair  and  generous  dealing. 

A  powerful  navy  we  have  always  regarded  as  our 
proper  and  natural  means  of  defense ;  and  it  has  always 
been  of  defense  that  we  have  thought,  never  of  aggres- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  63 

sion  or  of  conquest.  But  who  shall  tell  us  now  what  sort 
of  a  navy  to  build?  We  shall  take  leave  to  be  strong 
upon  the  seas,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past ;  and  there  will 
be  no  thought  of  offense  or  of  provocation  in  that.  Our 
ships  are  owr  natural  bulwarks.  When  will  the  experts 
tell  us  just  what  kind  we  should  construct — and  when 
will  they  be  right  for  ten  years  together,  if  the  relative 
efficiency  of  craft  of  different  kinds  and  uses  continues 
to  change  as  we  have  seen  it  change  under  our  very  eyes 
in  these  last  few  months. 

But  I  turn  away  from  the  subject.  It  is  not  new. 
There  is  no  new  need  to  discuss  it.  We  shall  not  alter 
our  attitude  toward  it  because  some  amongst  us  are 
nervous  and  excited.  We  shall  easily  and  sensibly  agree 
upon  a  policy  of  defense.  The  question  has  not  changed 
its  aspect  because  the  times  are  not  normal.  Our  policy 
will  not  be  for  an  occasion.  It  will  be  conceived  as  a 
permanent  and  settled  thing,  which  we  will  pursue  at 
all  seasons,  without  haste  and  after  a  fashion  perfectly 
consistent  with  the  peace  of  the  world,  and  the  abiding 
friendship  of  states,  and  the  unhampered  freedom  of  all 
with  whom  we  deal.  Let  there  be  no  misconception.  The 
country  has  been  misinformed.  We  have  not  been  negli- 
gent of  national  defense.  We  are  not  unmindful  of  the 
great  responsibility  resting  upon  us.  We  shall  learn  and 
profit  by  the  lesson  of  every  experience  and  every  new 
circumstance ;  and  what  is  needed  will  be  adequately  done. 

I  close,  as  I  began,  by  reminding  you  of  the  great  tasks 
and  duties  of  peace  which  challenge  our  best  powers  and 
invite  us  to  build  what  will  last,  the  tasks  to  which  we  can 
address  ourselves  now  and  at  all  times  with  free-hearted 
zest  and  with  all  the  finest  gifts  of  constructive  wisdom 
we  possess.  To  develop  our  life  and  our  resources;  to 
supply  our  own  people,  and  the  people  of  the  world  as 


64  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

their  need  arises  from  the  abundant  plenty  of  our  fields 
and  our  marts  of  trade ;  to  enrich  the  commerce  of  our 
own  States  and  of  the  world  with  the  products  of  our 
mines,  our  farms,  and  our  factories,  with  the  creations  of 
our  thought  and  the  fruits  of  our  character — this  is  what 
will  hold  our  attention  and  our  enthusiasm  steadily,  now 
and  in  the  years  to  come,  as  we  strive  to  show  in  our  life 
as  a  nation  what  liberty  and  the  inspirations  of  an  eman- 
cipated spirit  may  do  for  men  and  for  societies,  for  indi- 
viduals, for  states,  and  for  mankind. 


ADDRESS   AT   FLAG-DAT   EXERCISES 

of  the  Treasury  Department,  June  14,  1915 

MR.  SECRETARY,  FRIENDS  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

I  know  of  nothing  more  difficult  than  to  render  an 
adequate  tribute  to  the  emblem  of  our  nation.  For  those 
of  us  who  have  shared  that  nation's  life  and  felt  the  beat 
of  its  pulse  it  must  be  considered  a  matter  of  impossibility 
to  express  the  great  things  which  that  emblem  embodies. 
I  venture  to  say  that  a  great  many  things  are  said  about 
the  flag  which  very  few  people  stop  to  analyze.  For  me 
the  flag  does  not  express  a  mere  body  of  vague  sentiment. 
The  flag  of  the  United  States  has  not  been  created  by 
rhetorical  sentences  in  declarations  of  independence  and 
in  bills  of  rights.  It  has  been  created  by  the  experience 
of  a  great  people,  and  nothing  is  written  upon  it  that  has 
not  been  written  by  their  life.  It  is  the  embodiment,  not 
of  a  sentiment,  but  of  a  history,  and  no  man  can  rightly 
serve  under  that  flag  who  has  not  caught  some  of  the 
meaning  of  that  history. 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  65 

Experience,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  made  by  men  and 
women.  National  experience  is  the  product  of  those  who 
do  the  living  under  that  flag.  It  is  their  living  that  has 
created  its  significance.  You  do  not  create  the  meaning 
of  a  national  life  by  any  literary  exposition  of  it,  but  by 
the  actual  daily  endeavors  of  a  great  people  to  do  the 
tasks  of  the  day  and  live  up  to  the  ideals  of  honesty  and 
righteousness  and  just  conduct.  And  as  we  think  of 
these  things,  our  tribute  is  to  those  men  who  have  created 
this  experience.  Many  of  them  are  known  by  name  to  all 
the  world — statesmen,  soldiers,  merchants,  masters  of  in- 
dustry, men  of  letters  and  of  thought  who  have  coined  our 
hearts  into  action  or  into  words.  Of  these  men  we  feel 
that  they  have  shown  us  the  way.  They  have  not  been 
afraid  to  go  before  us.  They  have  known  that  they  were 
speaking  the  thoughts  of  a  great  people  when  they  led 
that  great  people  along  the  paths  of  achievement.  There 
was  not  a  single  swashbuckler  among  them.  They  were 
men  of  sober,  quiet  thought,  the  more  effective  because 
there  was  no  bluster  in  it.  They  were  men  who  thought 
along  the  lines  of  duty,  not  along  the  lines  of  self-aggran- 
dizement. They  were  men,  in  short,  who  thought  of 
the  people  whom  they  served  and  not  of  themselves. 

But  while  we  think  of  these  men  and  do  honor  to  them 
as  to  those  who  have  shown  us  the  way,  let  us  not  forget 
that  the  real  experience  and  life  of  a  nation  lies  with  the 
great  multitude  of  unknown  men.  It  lies  with  those  men 
whose  names  are  never  in  the  headlines  of  newspapers, 
those  men  who  know  the  heat  and  pain  and  desperate  loss 
of  hope  that  sometimes  comes  in  the  great  struggle  of 
daily  life ;  not  the  men  who  stand  on  the  side  and  com- 
ment, not  the  men  who  merely  try  to  interpret  the  great 
struggle,  but  the  men  who  are  engaged  in  the  struggle. 
They  constitute  the  body  of  the  nation.  This  flag  is  the 


66  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

essence  of  their  daily  endeavors.  This  flag  does  not  ex- 
press any  more  than  what  they  are  and  what  they  desire 
to  be. 

As  I  think  of  the  life  of  this  great  nation  it  seems  to 
me  that  we  sometimes  look  to  the  wrong  places  for  its 
sources.  "We  look  to  the  noisy  places,  where  men  are 
talking  in  the  market  place;  we  look  to  where  men  are 
expressing  their  individual  opinions;  we  look  to  where 
partisans  are  expressing  passion;  instead  of  trying  to 
attune  our  ears  to  that  voiceless  mass  of  men  who  merely 
go  about  their  daily  tasks,  try  to  be  honorable,  try  to 
serve  the  people  they  love,  try  to  live  worthy  of  the  great 
communities  to  which  they  belong.  These  are  the  breath 
of  the  nation's  nostrils ;  these  are  the  sinews  of  its  might. 

How  can  any  man  presume  to  interpret  the  emblem 
of  the  United  States,  the  emblem  of  what  we  would  fain 
be  among  the  family  of  nations,  and  find  it  incumbent 
upon  us  to  be  in  the  daily  round  of  routine  duty  ?  This 
is  Flag  Day,  but  that  only  means  that  it  is  a  day  when 
we  are  to  recall  the  things  which  we  should  do  every  day 
of  our  lives.  There  are  no  days  of  special  patriotism. 
There  are  no  days  when  we  should  be  more  patriotic  than 
on  other  days.  We  celebrate  the  Fourth  of  July  merely 
because  the  great  enterprise  of  liberty  was  started  on  the 
fourth  of  July  in  America,  but  the  great  enterprise  of 
liberty  was  not  begun  in  America.  It  is  illustrated  by 
the  blood  of  thousands  of  martyrs  who  lived  and  died 
before  the  great  experiment  on  this  side  of  the  water. 
The  Fourth  of  July  merely  marks  the  day  when  we  con- 
secrated ourselves  as  a  nation  to  this  high  thing  which 
we  pretend  to  serve.  The  benefit  of  a  day  like  this  is 
merely  in  turning  away  from  the  things  that  distract  us, 
turning  away  from  the  things  that  touch  us  personally 
and  absorb  our  interest  in  the  hours  of  daily  work.  We 


GREAT  SPEECHES  67 

remind  ourselves  of  those  things  that  are  greater  than 
we  are,  of  those  principles  by  which  we  believe  our  hearts 
to  be  elevated,  of  the  more  difficult  things  that  we  must 
undertake  in  these  days  of  perplexity  when  a  man 's  judg- 
ment is  safest  only  when  it  follows  the  line  of  principle. 

I  am  solemnized  in  the  presence  of  such  a  day.  I 
would  not  undertake  to  speak  your  thoughts.  You  must 
interpret  them  for  me.  But  I  do  feel  that  back,  not  only 
of  every  public  official,  but  of  every  man  and  woman  of 
the  United  States,  there  marches  that  great  host  which  has 
brought  us  to  the  present  day ;  the  host  that  has  never  for- 
gotten the  vision  which  it  saw  at  the  birth  of  the  nation ; 
the  host  which  always  responds  to  the  dictates  of  human- 
ity and  of  liberty;  the  host  that  will  always  constitute 
the  strength  and  the  great  body  of  friends  of  every  man 
who  does  his  duty  to  the  United  States. 

I  am  sorry  that  you  do  not  wear  a  little  flag  of  the 
Union  every  day  instead  of  some  days.  I  can  only  ask 
you,  if  you  lose  the  physical  emblem,  to  be  sure  that  you 
wear  it  in  your  heart,  and  the  heart  of  America  shall 
interpret  the  heart  of  the  world. 


68  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRESIDENT 

at  6.  A.  R.  Celebration,  Camp  Emery,  Washington, 
September  28,  1915 

MR.  CHAIRMAN,  GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  GRAND  ARMY  OP  THE 

REPUBLIC,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

I  bid  you  a  very  cordial  welcome  to  the  capital  of  the 
Nation,  and  yet  I  feel  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  bid  you 
welcome  here,  because  you  know  that  the  welcome  is 
always  warm  and  always  waiting  for  you. 

One  could  not  stand  in  this  presence  without  many 
moving  thoughts.  It  is  a  singular  thing  that  men  of  a 
single  generation  should  have  witnessed  what  you  have 
witnessed  in  the  crowded  fifty  years  which  you  celebrate 
tonight.  You  took  part  when  you  were  young  men  in  a 
struggle  the  meaning  of  which,  I  dare  say,  you  thought 
would  not  be  revealed  during  your  lifetime,  and  yet  more 
has  happened  in  the  making  of  this  Nation  in  your  life- 
time than  has  ever  happened  in  the  making  of  any  other 
nation  in  the  lifetime  of  a  dozen  generations. 

The  Nation  in  which  you  now  live  is  not  the  Nation  for 
whose  union  you  fought.  You  have  seen  many  things 
come  about  which  have  made  this  Nation  one  of  the  rep- 
resentative nations  of  the  world  with  regard  to  the  mod- 
ern spirit  of  that  world,  and  you  have  the  satisfaction, 
which  I  dare  say  few  soldiers  have  ever  had,  of  looking 
back  upon  a  war  absolutely  unique  in  this,  that  instead  of 
destroying  it  healed,  that  instead  of  making  a  permanent 
division  it  made  a  permanent  union.  You  have  seen 
something  more  interesting  than  that,  because  there  is  a 
sense  in  which  the  things  of  the  heart  are  more  interesting 
than  the  things  of  the  mind.  This  Nation  was  from  the 
beginning  a  spiritual  enterprise,  and  you  have  seen  the 


GREAT  SPEECHES  69 

spirits  of  the  two  once  divided  sections  of  this  country 
absolutely  united.  A  war  which  seemed  as  if  it  had  the 
seed  of  every  kind  of  bitterness  in  it  has  seen  a  single 
generation  put  bitterness  absolutely  out  of  its  heart,  and 
you  feel,  as  I  am  sure  the  men  who  fought  against  you 
feel,  that  you  were  comrades  even  then,  though  you  did 
not  know  it,  and  that  now  you  know  that  you  are  com- 
rades in  a  common  love  for  a  country  which  you  are 
equally  eager  to  serve. 

This  is  a  miracle  of  the  spirit,  so  far  as  national  history 
is  concerned.  This  is  one  of  the  very  few  wars  in  which 
in  one  sense  everybody  engaged  may  take  pride.  Some 
wars  are  to  be  regretted;  some  wars  mar  the  annals  of 
history ;  but  some  wars,  contrasted  with  those,  make  those 
annals  distinguished,  show  that  the  spirit  of  man  some- 
times springs  to  great  enterprises  that  are  even  greater 
than  his  own  mind  had  conceived. 

So  it  seems  to  me  that,  standing  in  a  presence  like  this, 
no  man,  whether  he  be  in  the  public  service  or  in  the  ranks 
of  private  citizens  merely,  can  fail  to  feel  the  challenge 
to  his  own  heart,  can  fail  to  feel  the  challenge  to  a  new 
consecration  to  the  things  that  we  all  believe  in.  The 
thing  that  sinks  deepest  in  my  heart  as  I  try  to  realize  the 
memories  that  must  be  crowding  upon  you  is  this :  You 
set  the  Nation  free  for  that  great  career  of  development, 
of  unhampered  development,  which  the  world  has  wit- 
nessed since  the  Civil  War,  but  for  my  own  part  I  would 
not  be  proud  of  the  extraordinary  physical  development 
of  this  country,  of  its  extraordinary  development  in  mate- 
rial wealth  and  financial  power,  did  I  not  believe  that 
the  people  of  the  United  States  wished  all  of  this  power 
devoted  to  ideal  ends.  There  have  been  other  nations  as 
rich  as  we;  there  have  been  other  nations  as  powerful; 
there  have  been  other  nations  as  spirited ;  but  I  hope  we 


70  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

shall  never  forget  that  we  created  this  Nation,  not  to 
serve  ourselves,  but  to  serve  mankind. 

I  love  this  country  because  it  is  my  home,  but  every  man 
loves  his  home.  It  does  not  suffice  that  I  should  be  at- 
tached to  it  because  it  contains  the  places  and  the  persons 
whom  I  love — because  it  contains  the  threads  of  my  own 
life.  That  does  not  suffice  for  patriotic  duty.  I  should 
also  love  it,  and  I  hope  I  do  love  it,  as  a  great  instrument 
for  the  uplift  of  mankind ;  and  what  you,  gentlemen,  have 
to  remind  us  of  as  you  look  back  through  a  lifetime  to 
the  great  war  in  which  you  took  part  is  that  you  fought 
that  this  instrument  meant  for  the  service  of  mankind 
should  not  be  impaired  either  in  its  material  or  in  its 
spiritual  power. 

I  hope  I  may  say  without  even  an  implication  of  criti- 
cism upon  any  other  great  people  in  the  world  that  it  has 
always  seemed  to  me  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
wished  to  be  regarded  as  devoted  to  the  promotion  of  par- 
ticular principles  of  human  right.  The  United  States  were 
founded,  not  to  provide  free  homes,  but  to  assert  human 
rights.  This  flag  meant  a  great  enterprise  of  the  human 
spirit.  Nobody,  no  large  bodies  of  men,  in  the  time  that 
flag  was  first  set  up  believed  with  a  very  firm  belief  in 
the  efficacy  of  democracy.  Do  you  realize  that  only  so 
long  ago  as  the  time  of  the  American  Revolution  democ- 
racy was  regarded  as  an  experiment  in  the  world  and  we 
were  regarded  as  rash  experimenters  ?  But  we  not  only 
believed  in  it ;  we  showed  that  our  belief  was  well  founded 
and  that  a  nation  as  powerful  as  any  in  the  world  could 
be  erected  upon  the  will  of  the  people ;  that,  indeed,  there 
was  a  power  in  such  a  nation  that  dwelt  in  no  other  nation 
unless  also  in  that  other  nation  the  spirit  of  the  people 
prevailed. 

Democracy  is  the  most  difficult  form  of  government, 


GREAT  SPEECHES  71 

because  it  is  the  form  under  which  you  have  to  persuade 
the  largest  number  of  persons  to  do  anything  in  particu- 
lar. But  I  think  we  were  the  more  pleased  to  undertake 
it  because  it  is  difficult.  Anybody  can  do  what  is  easy. 
We  have  shown  that  we  could  do  what  was  hard,  and  the 
pride  that  ought  to  dwell  in  your  hearts  tonight  is  that 
you  saw  to  it  that  that  experiment  was  brought  to  the  day 
of  its  triumphant  demonstration.  We  now  know,  and  the 
world  knows,  that  the  thing  that  we  then  undertook,  rash 
as  it  seemed,  has  been  practicable,  and  that  we  have  set 
up  in  the  world  a  government  maintained  and  promoted 
by  the  general  conscience  and  the  general  conviction. 

So  I  stand  here,  not  to  welcome  you  to  the  Nation's 
capital  as  if  I  were  your  host,  but  merely  to  welcome  you 
to  your  own  capital,  because  I  am,  and  am  proud  to  be, 
your  servant.  I  hope  I  shall  catch,  as  I  hope  we  shall  all 
catch,  from  the  spirit  of  this  occasion  a  new  consecration 
to  the  high  duties  of  American  citizenship. 


72  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ADDRESS  TO  THE  DAUGHTERS  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  REVOLUTION 

Washington,  October  11,  1915 
MADAM  PRESIDENT  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

Again  it  is  my  very  great  privilege  to  welcome  you  to 
the  City  of  Washington  and  to  the  hospitalities  of  the 
Capital.  May  I  admit  a  point  of  ignorance  ?  I  was  sur- 
prised to  learn  that  this  association  is  so  young,  and  that 
an  association  so  young  should  devote  itself  wholly  to 
memory  I  can  not  believe.  For  to  me  the  duties  to  which 
you  are  consecrated  are  more  than  the  duties  and  the 
pride  of  memory. 

There  is  a  very  great  thrill  to  be  had  from  the  memories 
of  the  American  Revolution,  but  the  American  Revolution 
was  a  beginning,  not  a  consummation,  and  the  duty  laid 
upon  us  by  that  beginning  is  the  duty  of  bringing  the 
things  then  begun  to  a  noble  triumph  of  completion.  For 
it  seems  to  me  that  the  peculiarity  of  patriotism  in  Amer- 
ica is  that  it  is  not  a  mere  sentiment.  It  is  an  active  prin- 
ciple of  conduct.  It  is  something  that  was  born  into  the 
world,  not  to  please  it  but  to  regenerate  it.  It  is  some- 
thing that  was  born  into  the  world  to  replace  systems 
that  had  preceded  it  and  to  bring  men  out  upon  a  new 
plane  of  privilege.  The  glory  of  the  men  whose  memories 
you  honor  and  perpetuate  is  that  they  saw  this  vision, 
and  it  was  a  vision  of  the  future.  It  was  a  vision  of  great 
days  to  come  when  a  little  handful  of  three  million  people 
upon  the  borders  of  a  single  sea  should  have  become  a 
great  multitude  of  free  men  and  women  spreading  across 
a  great  continent,  dominating  the  shores  of  two  oceans, 
and  sending  West  as  well  as  East  the  influences  of  indi- 
vidual freedom.  These  things  were  consciously  in  their 
minds  as  they  framed  the  great  Government  which  was 


GBEAT  SPEECHES  73 

born  out  of  the  American  Revolution ;  and  every  time  we 
gather  to  perpetuate  their  memories  it  is  incumbent  upon 
us  that  we  should  be  worthy  of  recalling  them  and  that 
we  should  endeavor  by  every  means  in  our  power  to 
emulate  their  example. 

The  American  Revolution  was  the  birth  of  a  nation; 
it  was  the  creation  of  a  great  free  republic  based  upon 
traditions  of  personal  liberty  which  theretofore  had  been 
confined  to  a  single  little  island,  but  which  it  was  purposed 
should  spread  to  all  mankind.  And  the  singular  fascina- 
tion of  American  history  is  that  it  has  been  a  process  of 
constant  re-creation,  of  making  over  again  in  each  genera- 
tion the  thing  which  was  conceived  at  first.  You  know 
how  peculiarly  necessary  that  has  been  in  our  case,  be- 
cause America  has  not  grown  by  the  mere  multiplication 
of  the  original  stock.  It  is  easy  to  preserve  tradition  with 
continuity  of  blood ;  it  is  easy  in  a  single  family  to  remem- 
ber the  origins  of  the  race  and  the  purposes  of  its  organi- 
zation ;  but  it  is  not  so  easy  when  that  race  is  constantly 
being  renewed  and  augmented  from  other  sources,  from 
stocks  that  did  not  carry  or  originate  the  same  principles. 

So  from  generation  to  generation  strangers  have  had 
to  be  indoctrinated  with  the  principles  of  the  American 
family,  and  the  wonder  and  the  beauty  of  it  all  has  been 
that  the  infection  has  been  so  generously  easy.  For  the 
principles  of  liberty  are  united  with  the  principles  of 
hope.  Every  individual,  as  well  as  every  Nation,  wishes 
to  realize  the  best  thing  that  is  in  him,  the  best  thing  that 
can  be  conceived  out  of  the  materials  of  which  his  spirit 
is  constructed.  It  has  happened  in  a  way  that  fascinates 
the  imagination  that  we  have  not  only  been  augmented 
by  additions  from  outside,  but  that  we  have  been  greatly 
stimulated  by  those  additions.  Living  in  the  easy  pros- 
perity of  a  free  people,  knowing  that  the  sun  had  always 


74  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

been  free  to  shine  upon  us  and  prosper  our  undertakings, 
we  did  not  realize  how  hard  the  task  of  liberty  is  and  how 
rare  the  privilege  of  liberty  is;  but  men  were  drawn  out 
of  every  climate  and  out  of  every  race  because  of  an  irre- 
sistible attraction  of  their  spirits  to  the  American  ideal. 
They  thought  of  America  as  lifting,  like  that  great  statue 
in  the  harbor  of  New  York,  a  torch  to  light  the  pathway 
of  men  to  the  things  that  they  desire,  and  men  of  all  sorts 
and  conditions  struggled  toward  that  light  and  came  to 
our  shores  with  an  eager  desire  to  realize  it,  and  a  hunger 
for  it  such  as  some  of  us  no  longer  felt,  for  we  were  as  if 
satiated  and  satisfied  and  were  indulging  ourselves  after 
a  fashion  that  did  not  belong  to  the  ascetic  devotion  of 
the  early  devotees  of  those  great  principles.  Strangers 
came  to  remind  us  of  what  we  had  promised  ourselves  and 
through  ourselves  had  promised  mankind.  All  men  came 
to  us  and  said,  * '  Where  is  the  bread  of  life  with  which  you 
promised  to  feed  us,  and  have  you  partaken  of  it  your- 
selves ? ' '  For  my  part,  I  believe  that  the  constant  renewal 
of  this  people  out  of  foreign  stocks  has  been  a  constant 
source  of  reminder  to  this  people  of  what  the  inducement 
was  that  was  offered  to  men  who  would  come  and  be  of  our 
number. 

Now  we  have  come  to  a  time  of  special  stress  and  test. 
There  never  was  a  time  when  we  needed  more  clearly  to 
conserve  the  principles  of  our  own  patriotism  than  this 
present  time.  The  rest  of  the  world  from  which  our 
polities  were  drawn  seems  for  the  time  in  the  crucible  and 
no  man  can  predict  what  will  come  out  of  that  crucible. 
We  stand  apart,  unembroiled,  conscious  of  our  own  prin- 
ciples, conscious  of  what  we  hope  and  purpose,  so  far  as 
our  powers  permit,  for  the  world  at  large,  and  it  is  nec- 
essary that  we  should  consolidate  the  American  principle. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  75 

Every  political  action,  every  social  action,  should  have  for 
its  object  in  America  at  this  time  to  challenge  the  spirit 
of  America ;  to  ask  that  every  man  and  woman  who  thinks 
first  of  America  should  rally  to  the  standards  of  our  life. 
There  have  been  some  among  us  who  have  not  thought 
first  of  America,  who  have  thought  to  use  the  might  of 
America  in  some  matter  not  of  America's  origination. 
They  have  forgotten  that  the  first  duty  of  a  nation  is  to 
express  its  own  individual  principles  in  the  action  of  the 
family  of  nations  and  not  to  seek  to  aid  and  abet  any  rival 
or  contrary  ideal. 

Neutrality  is  a  negative  word.  It  is  a  word  that  does 
not  express  what  America  ought  to  feel.  America  has  a 
heart  and  that  heart  throbs  with  all  sorts  of  intense  sym- 
pathies, but  America  has  schooled  its  heart  to  love  the 
things  that  America  believes  in,  and  it  ought  to  devote 
itself  only  to  the  things  that  America  believes  in,  and  be- 
lieving that  America  stands  apart  in  its  ideals,  it  ought 
not  to  allow  itself  to  be  drawn,  so  far  as  its  heart  is  con- 
cerned, into  anybody 's  quarrel.  Not  because  it  does  not 
understand  the  quarrel,  not  because  it  does  not  in  its  head 
assess  the  merits  of  the  controversy,  but  because  America 
has  promised  the  world  to  stand  apart  and  maintain  cer- 
tain principles  of  action  which  are  grounded  in  law  and  in 
justice.  We  are  not  trying  to  keep  out  of  trouble ;  we  are 
trying  to  preserve  the  foundations  upon  which  peace  can 
be  rebuilt.  Peace  can  be  rebuilt  only  upon  the  ancient  and 
accepted  principles  of  international  law,  only  upon  those 
things  which  remind  nations  of  their  duties  to  each  other, 
and,  deeper  than  that,  of  their  duties  to  mankind  and  to 
humanity. 

America  has  a  great  cause  which  is  not  confined  to  the 
American  continent.  It  is  the  cause  of  humanity  itself.  I 
do  not  mean  in  anything  that  I  say  even  to  imply  a  judg- 


76  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ment  upon  any  nation  or  upon  any  policy,  for  my  object 
here  this  afternoon  is  not  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  any- 
body but  ourselves  and  to  challenge  you  to  assist  all  of  us 
who  are  trying  to  make  America  more  than  ever  conscious 
of  her  own  principles  and  her  own  duty.  I  look  forward 
to  the  necessity  in  every  political  agitation  in  the  years 
which  are  immediately  at  hand  of  calling  upon  every  man 
to  declare  himself,  where  he  stands.  Is  it  America  first 
or  is  it  not  ? 

We  ought  to  be  very  careful  about  some  of  the  impres- 
sions that  we  are  forming  just  now.  There  is  too  general 
an  impression,  I  fear,  that  very  large  numbers  of  our 
fellow-citizens  born  in  other  lands  have  not  entertained 
with  sufficient  intensity  and  affection  the  American  ideal. 
But  the  number  of  such  is,  I  am  sure,  not  large.  Those 
who  would  seek  to  represent  them  are  very  vocal,  but  they 
are  not  very  influential.  Some  of  the  best  stuff  of 
America  has  come  out  of  foreign  lands,  and  some  of  the 
best  stuff  in  America  is  in  the  men  who  are  naturalized 
citizens  of  the  United  States.  I  would  not  be  afraid  upon 
the  test  of  "America  first"  to  take  a  census  of  all  the 
foreign-born  citizens  of  the  United  States,  for  I  know 
that  the  vast  majority  of  them  came  here  because  they 
believed  in  America;  and  their  belief  in  America  has 
made  them  better  citizens  than  some  people  who  were  born 
in  America.  They  can  say  that  they  have  bought  this 
privilege  with  a  great  price.  They  have  left  their  homes, 
they  have  left  their  kindred,  they  have  broken  all  the 
nearest  and  dearest  ties  of  human  life  in  order  to  come  to 
a  new  land,  take  a  new  rootage,  begin  a  new  life,  and  so 
by  self-sacrifice  express  their  confidence  in  a  new  prin- 
ciple ;  whereas,  it  cost  us  none  of  these  things.  We  were 
born  into  this  privilege ;  we  were  rocked  and  cradled  in 
it;  we  did  nothing  to  create  it;  and  it  is,  therefore,  the 


GREAT  SPEECHES  77 

greater  duty  on  our  part  to  do  a  great  deal  to  enhance  it 
and  preserve  it.  I  am  not  deceived  as  to  the  balance  of 
opinion  among  the  foreign-born  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  but  I  am  in  a  hurry  for  an  opportunity  to  have  a 
line-up  and  let  the  men  who  are  thinking  first  of  other 
countries  stand  on  one  side  and  all  those  that  are  for 
America  first,  last,  and  all  the  time  on  the  other  side. 

Now,  you  can  do  a  great  deal  in  this  direction.  When 
I  was  a  college  officer  I  used  to  be  very  much  opposed  to 
hazing ;  not  because  hazing  is  not  wholesome,  but  because 
sophomores  are  poor  judges.  I  remember  a  very  dear 
friend  of  mine,  a  professor  of  ethics  on  the  other  side  of 
the  water,  was  asked  if  he  thought  it  was  ever  justifiable 
to  tell  a  lie.  He  said  Yes,  he  thought  it  was  sometimes 
justifiable  to  lie;  "but,"  he  said,  "it  is  so  difficult  to 
judge  of  the  justification  that  I  usually  tell  the  truth. ' '  I 
think  that  ought  to  be  the  motto  of  the  sophomore.  There 
are  freshmen  who  need  to  be  hazed,  but  the  need  is  to  be 
judged  by  such  nice  tests  that  a  sophomore  is  hardly  old 
enough  to  determine  them.  But  the  world  can  determine 
them.  We  are  not  freshmen  at  college,  but  we  are  con- 
stantly hazed.  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  be  obliged  to 
draw  pepper  up  my  nose  than  to  observe  the  hostile 
glances  of  my  neighbors.  I  would  a  great  deal  rather  be 
beaten  than  ostracized.  I  would  a  great  deal  rather 
endure  any  sort  of  physical  hardship  if  I  might  have  the 
affection  of  my  fellow-men.  We  constantly  discipline  our 
fellow-citizens  by  having  an  opinion  about  them.  That 
is  the  sort  of  discipline  we  ought  now  to  administer  to 
everybody  who  is  not  to  the  very  core  of  his  heart  an 
American.  Just  have  an  opinion  about  him  and  let  him 
experience  the  atmospheric  effects  of  that  opinion !  And 
I  know  of  no  body  of  persons  comparable  to  a  body  of 


78  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ladies  for  creating  an  atmosphere  of  opinion!  I  have 
myself  in  part  yielded  to  the  influences  of  that  atmos- 
phere, though  it  took  me  a  long  time  to  determine  how  I 
was  going  to  vote  in  New  Jersey. 

So  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  my  privilege  this  afternoon 
was  not  merely  a  privilege  of  courtesy,  but  the  real  priv- 
ilege of  reminding  you — for  I  am  sure  I  am  doing  nothing 
more — of  the  great  principles  which  we  stand  associated 
to  promote.  I  for  my  part  rejoice  that  we  belong  to  a 
country  in  which  the  whole  business  of  government  is  so 
difficult.  We  do  not  take  orders  from  anybody;  it  is  a 
universal  communication  of  conviction,  the  most  subtle, 
delicate,  and  difficult  of  processes.  There  is  not  a  single 
individual's  opinion  that  is  not  of  some  consequence  in 
making  up  the  grand  total,  and  to  be  in  this  great  coopera- 
tive effort  is  the  most  stimulating  thing  in  the  world.  A 
man  standing  alone  may  well  misdoubt  his  own  judgment. 
He  may  mistrust  his  own  intellectual  processes ;  he  may 
even  wonder  if  his  own  heart  leads  him  right  in  matters  of 
public  conduct ;  but  if  he  finds  his  heart  part  of  the  great 
throb  of  a  national  life,  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  it. 
If  that  is  his  happy  circumstance,  then  he  may  know 
that  he  is  part  of  one  of  the  great  forces  of  the  world. 

I  would  not  feel  any  exhilaration  in  belonging  to 
America  if  I  did  not  feel  that  she  was  something  more 
than  a  rich  and  powerful  nation.  I  should  not  feel  proud 
to  be  in  some  respects  and  for  a  little  while  her  spokes- 
man if  I  did  tiot  believe  that  there  was  something  else 
than  physical  force  behind  her.  I  believe  that  the  glory 
of  America  is  that  she  is  a  great  spiritual  conception  and 
that  in  the  spirit  of  her  institutions  dwells  not  only  her 
distinction  but  her  power.  The  one  thing  that  the  world 
can  not  permanently  resist  is  the  moral  force  of  great 
and  triumphant  convictions. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  79 

ANNUAL  ADDRESS  TO  CONGRESS 

December  7,  1915 

[This  Address  Includes  Mr.  Wilson's  Historic  Remarks  on  Dis- 
loyalty Within  the  Nation.] 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONGRESS: 

Since  I  last  had  the  privilege  of  addressing  you  on 
the  state  of  the  Union  the  war  of  nations  on  the  other 
side  of  the  sea,  which  had  then  only  begun  to  disclose 
its  portentous  proportions,  has  extended  its  threatening 
and  sinister  scope  until  it  has  swept  within  its  flame  some 
portion  of  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  not  excepting  our 
own  hemisphere,  has  altered  the  whole  face  of  interna- 
tional affairs,  and  now  presents  a  prospect  of  reorganiza- 
tion and  reconstruction  such  as  statesmen  and  peoples 
have  never  been  called  upon  to  attempt  before. 

We  have  stood  apart,  studiously  neutral.  It  was  our 
manifest  duty  to  do  so.  Not  only  did  we  have  no  part  or 
interest  in  the  policies  which  seem  to  have  brought  the 
conflict  on;  it  was  necessary,  if  a  universal  catastrophe 
was  to  be  avoided,  that  a  limit  should  be  set  to  the  sweep 
of  destructive  war  and  that  some  part  of  the  great  family 
of  nations  should  keep  the  processes  of  peace  alive,  if  only 
to  prevent  collective  economic  ruin  and  the  breakdown 
throughout  the  world  of  the  industries  by  which  its  pop- 
ulations are  fed  and  sustained.  It  was  manifestly  the 
duty  of  the  self-governed  nations  of  this  hemisphere  to 
redress,  if  possible,  the  balance  of  economic  loss  and  con- 
fusion in  the  other,  if  they  could  do  nothing  more.  In 
the  day  of  readjustment  and  recuperation  we  earnestly 
hope  and  believe  that  .they  can  be  of  infinite  service. 

In  this  neutrality,  to  wnich  they  were  bidden  not  only 
by  their  separate  life  and  their  habitual  detachment  from. 


80  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

the  politics  of  Europe  but  also  by  a  clear  perception  of 
international  duty,  the  states  of  America  have  become 
conscious  of  a  new  and  more  vital  community  of  interest 
and  moral  partnership  in  affairs,  more  clearly  conscious 
of  the  many  common  sympathies  and  interests  and  duties 
which  bid  them  stand  together. 

There  was  a  time  in  the  early  days  of  our  own  great 
nation  and  of  the  republics  fighting  their  way  to  inde- 
pendence in  Central  and  South  America  when  the  govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  looked  upon  itself  as  in  some 
sort  the  guardian  of  the  republics  to  the  south  of  her  as 
against  any  encroachments  or  efforts  at  political  control 
from  the  other  side  of  the  water ;  felt  it  its  duty  to  play 
the  part  even  without  invitation  from  them ;  and  I  think 
that  we  can  claim  that  the  task  was  undertaken  with  a  true 
and  disinterested  enthusiasm  for  the  freedom  of  the 
Americas  and  the  unmolested  self-government  of  her 
independent  peoples.  But  it  was  always  difficult  to  main- 
tain such  a  role  without  offence  to  the  pride  of  the  peoples 
whose  freedom  of  action  we  sought  to  protect,  and  without 
provoking  serious  misconceptions  of  our  motives,  and 
every  thoughtful  man  of  affairs  must  welcome  the  altered 
circumstances  of  the  new  day  in  whose  light  we  now  stand, 
when  there  is  no  claim  of  guardianship  or  thought  of 
wards  but,  instead,  a  full  and  honorable  association  as  of 
partners  between  ourselves  and  our  neighbors,  in  the 
interest  of  all  America,  north  and  south.  Our  concern  for 
the  independence  and  prosperity  of  the  states  of  Central 
and  South  America  is  not  altered.  "We  retain  unabated 
the  spirit  that  has  inspired  us  throughout  the  whole  life 
of  our  government  and  which  was  so  frankly  put  into 
words  by  President  Monroe.  "We  still  mean  always  to 
make  a  common  cause  of  national  independence  and  of 
political  liberty  in  America.  But  that  purpose  is  now 


GREAT  SPEECHES  81 

better  understood  so  far  as  it  concerns  ourselves.  It  is 
known  not  to  be  a  selfish  purpose.  It  is  known  to  have 
in  it  no  thought  of  taking  advantage  of  any  government 
in  this  hemisphere  or  playing  its  political  fortunes  for 
our  own  benefit.  All  the  governments  of  America  stand, 
so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  upon  a  footing  of  genuine 
equality  and  unquestioned  independence. 

"We  have  been  put  to  the  test  in  the  case  of  Mexico,  and 
we  have  stood  the  test.  Whether  we  have  benefited  Mex- 
ico by  the  course  we  have  pursued  remains  to  be  seen. 
Her  fortunes  are  in  her  own  hands.  But  we  have  at  least 
proved  that  we  will  not  take  advantage  of  her  in  her  dis- 
tress and  undertake  to  impose  upon  her  an  order  and  gov- 
ernment of  our  own  choosing.  Liberty  is  often  a  fierce 
and  intractable  thing,  to  which  no  bounds  can  be  set,  and 
to  which  no  bounds  of  a  few  men's  choosing  ought  ever 
to  be  set.  Every  American  who  has  drunk  at  the  true 
fountains  of  principle  and  tradition  must  subscribe  with- 
out reservation  to  the  high  doctrine  of  the  Virginia  Bill  of 
Bights,  which  in  the  great  days  in  which  our  government 
was  set  up  was  everywhere  amongst  us  accepted  as  the 
creed  of  free  men.  That  doctrine  is,  ' '  That  government 
is,  or  ought  to  be,  instituted  for  the  common  benefit,  pro- 
tection, and  security  of  the  people,  nation,  or  commu- 
nity ; ' '  that ' '  of  all  the  various  modes  and  forms  of  gov- 
ernment, that  is  the  best  which  is  capable  of  producing 
the  greatest  degree  of  happiness  and  safety,  and  is  most 
effectually  secured  against  the  danger  of  maladministra- 
tion ;  and  that,  when  any  government  shall  be  found  in- 
adequate or  contrary  to  these  purposes,  a  majority  of  the 
community  hath  an  indubitable,  inalienable,  and  inde- 
feasible right  to  reform,  alter,  or  abolish  it,  in  such  man- 
ner as  shall  be  judged  most  conducive  to  the  public  weal. ' ' 


82  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

We  have  unhesitatingly  applied  that  heroic  principle  to 
the  case  of  Mexico,  and  now  hopefully  await  the  rebirth 
of  the  troubled  Kepublic,  which  had  so  much  of  which  to 
purge  itself  and  so  little  sympathy  from  any  outside 
quarter  in  the  radical  but  necessary  process.  "We  will 
aid  and  befriend  Mexico,  but  we  will  not  coerce  her ;  and 
our  course  with  regard  to  her  ought  to  be  sufficient  proof 
to  all  America  that  we  seek  no  political  suzerainty  or 
selfish  control. 

The  moral  is,  that  the  states  of  America  are  not  hostile 
rivals  but  cooperating  friends,  and  that  their  growing 
sense  of  community  of  interest,  alike  in  matters  political 
and  in  matters  economic,  is  likely  to  give  them  a  new  sig- 
nificance as  factors  in  international  affairs  and  in  the 
political  history  of  the  world.  It  presents  them  as  in  a 
very  deep  and  true  sense  a  unit  in  world  affairs,  spiritual 
partners,  standing  together  because  thinking  together, 
quick  with  common  sympathies  and  common  ideals.  Sep- 
arated they  are  subject  to  all  the  cross  currents  of  the 
confused  politics  of  a  world  of  hostile  rivalries;  united 
in  spirit  and  purpose  they  cannot  be  disappointed  of  their 
peaceful  destiny. 

This  is  Pan- Americanism.  It  has  none  of  the  spirit 
of  empire  in  it.  It  is  the  embodiment,  the  effectual  em- 
bodiment, of  the  spirit  of  law  and  independence  and 
liberty  and  mutual  service. 

A  very  notable  body  of  men  recently  met  in  the  City 
of  Washington,  at  the  invitation  and  as  the  guests  of  this 
Government,  whose  deliberations  are  likely  to  be  looked 
back  to  as  marking  a  memorable  turning  point  in  the  his- 
tory of  America.  They  were  representative  spokesmen 
of  the  several  independent  states  of  this  hemisphere  and 
were  assembled  to  discuss  the  financial  and  commercial 


GREAT  SPEECHES  83 

relations  of  the  republics  of  the  two  continents  which 
nature  and  political  fortune  have  so  intimately  linked 
together.  I  earnestly  recommend  to  your  perusal  the 
reports  of  their  proceedings  and  of  the  actions  of  their 
committees.  You  will  get  from  them,  I  think,  a  fresh  con- 
ception of  the  ease  and  intelligence  and  advantage  with 
which  Americans  of  both  continents  may  draw  together  in 
practical  cooperation  and  of  what  the  material  founda- 
tions of  this  hopeful  partnership  of  interest  must  consist, 
— of  how  we  should  build  them  and  of  how  necessary  it 
is  that  we  should  hasten  their  building. 

There  is,  I  venture  to  point  out,  an  especial  significance 
just  now  attaching  to  this  whole  matter  of  drawing  the 
Americas  together  in  bonds  of  honorable  partnership 
and  mutual  advantage  because  of  the  economic  readjust- 
ments which  the  world  must  inevitably  witness  within  the 
next  generation,  when  peace  shall  have  at  last  resumed 
its  healthful  tasks.  In  the  performance  of  these  tasks 
I  believe  the  Americas  to  be  destined  to  play  their  parts 
together.  I  am  interested  to  fix  your  attention  on  this 
prospect  now  because  unless  you  take  it  within  your  view 
and  permit  the  full  significance  of  it  to  command  your 
thought  I  cannot  find  the  right  light  in  which  to  set  forth 
the  particular  matter  that  lies  at  the  very  front  of  my 
whole  thought  as  I  address  you  today.  I  mean  national 
defense. 

No  one  who  really  comprehends  the  spirit  of  the  great 
people  for  whom  we  are  appointed  to  speak  can  fail  to 
perceive  that  their  passion  is  for  peace,  their  genius  best 
displayed  in  the  practice  of  the  arts  of  peace.  Great 
democracies  are  not  belligerent.  They  do  not  seek  or 
desire  war.  Their  thought  is  of  individual  liberty  and  of 
the  free  labor  that  supports  life  and  the  uncensored 


84  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

thought  that  quickens  it.  Conquest  and  dominion  are  not 
in  our  reckoning,  or  agreeable  to  our  principles.  But  just 
because  we  demand  unmolested  development  and  the 
undisturbed  government  of  our  own  lives  upon  our  own 
principles  of  right  and  liberty,  we  resent,  from  whatever 
quarter  it  may  come,  the  aggression  we  ourselves  will  not 
practice.  "We  insist  upon  security  in  prosecuting  our  self- 
chosen  lines  of  national  development.  "We  do  more  than 
that.  We  demand  it  also  for  others.  "We  do  not  confine 
our  enthusiasm  for  individual  liberty  and  free  national 
development  to  the  incidents  and  movements  of  affairs 
which  affect  only  ourselves.  We  feel  it  wherever  there 
is  a  people  that  tries  to  walk  in  these  difficult  paths  of 
independence  and  right.  From  the  first  we  have  made 
common  cause  with  all  partisans  of  liberty  on  this  side  the 
sea,  and  have  deemed  it  as  important  that  our  neighbors 
should  be  free  from  all  outside  domination  as  that  we  our- 
selves should  be,  have  set  America  aside  as  a  whole  for  the 
uses  of  independent  nations  and  political  freemen. 

Out  of  such  thoughts  grow  all  our  policies.  We  regard 
war  merely  as  a  means  of  asserting  the  rights  of  a  people 
against  aggression.  And  we  are  as  fiercely  jealous  of 
coercive  or  dictatorial  power  within  our  own  nation  as  of 
aggression  from  without.  We  will  not  maintain  a  stand- 
ing army  except  for  uses  which  are  as  necessary  in  times 
of  peace  as  in  times  of  war ;  and  we  shall  always  see  to  it 
that  our  military  peace  establishment  is  no  larger  than  is 
actually  and  continuously  needed  for  the  uses  of  days  in 
which  no  enemies  move  against  us.  But  we  do  believe  in  a 
body  of  free  citizens  ready  and  sufficient  to  take  care  of 
themselves  and  of  the  governments  which  they  have  set 
up  to  serve  them.  In  our  constitutions  themselves  we 
have  commanded  that  "the  right  of  the  people  to  keep 
and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed, ' '  and  our  confidence 


GREAT  SPEECHES  85 

has  been  that  our  safety  in  times  of  danger  would  lie  in 
the  rising  of  the  nation  to  take  care  of  itself,  as  the 
farmers  rose  at  Lexington. 

But  war  has  never  been  a  mere  matter  of  men  and  guns. 
It  is  a  thing  of  disciplined  might.  If  our  citizens  are  ever 
to  fight  effectively  upon  a  sudden  summons,  they  must 
know  how  modern  fighting  is  done,  and  what  to  do  when 
the  summons  comes  to  render  themselves  immediately 
available  and  immediately  effective.  And  the  govern- 
ment must  be  their  servant  in  this  matter,  must  supply 
them  with  the  training  they  need  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves and  of  it.  The  military  arm  of  their  government, 
which  they  will  not  allow  to  direct  them,  they  may  prop- 
erly use  to  serve  them  and  make  their  independence  se- 
cure,— and  not  their  own  independence  merely  but  the 
rights  also  of  those  with  whom  they  have  made  common 
cause,  should  they  also  be  put  in  jeopardy.  They  must  be 
fitted  to  play  the  great  role  in  the  world,  and  particularly 
in  this  hemisphere,  which  they  are  qualified  by  principle 
and  by  chastened  ambition  to  play. 

It  is  with  these  ideals  in  mind  that  the  plans  of  the 
Department  of  War  for  more  adequate  national  defense 
were  conceived  which  will  be  laid  before  you,  and  which 
I  urge  you  to  sanction  and  put  into  effect  as  soon  as  they 
can  be  properly  scrutinized  and  discussed.  They  seem 
to  me  the  essential  first  steps,  and  they  seem  to  me  for  the 
present  sufficient. 

They  contemplate  an  increase  of  the  standing  force  of 
the  regular  army  from  its  present  strength  of  five  thou- 
sand and  twenty-three  officers  and  one  hundred  and  two 
thousand  nine  hundred  and  eighty-five  enlisted  men  of 
all  services  to  a  strength  of  seven  thousand  one  hundred 
and  thirty-six  officers  and  one  hundred  and  thirty-four 


86  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

thousand  seven  hundred  and  seven  enlisted  men,  or  141,- 
843,  all  told,  all  services,  rank  and  file,  by  the  addition  of 
fifty-two  companies  of  coast  artillery,  fifteen  companies 
of  engineers,  ten  regiments  of  infantry,  four  regiments 
of  field  artillery,  and  four  aero  squadrons,  besides  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  officers  required  for  a  great  variety  of 
extra  service,  especially  the  all  important  duty  of  training 
the  citizen  force  of  which  I  shall  presently  speak,  seven 
hundred  and  ninety-two  noncommissioned  officers  for 
service  in  drill,  recruiting  and  the  like,  and  the  necessary 
quota  of  enlisted  men  for  the  Quartermaster  Corps,  the 
Hospital  Corps,  the  Ordnance  Department,  and  other 
similar  auxiliary  services.  These  are  the  additions  neces- 
sary to  render  the  army  adequate  for  its  present  duties, 
duties  which  it  has  to  perform  not  only  upon  our  own  con- 
tinental coasts  and  borders  and  at  our  interior  army  posts, 
but  also  in  the  Philippines,  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  at 
the  Isthmus,  and  in  Porto  Rico. 

By  way  of  making  the  country  ready  to  assert  some 
part  of  its  real  power  promptly  and  upon  a  larger  scale, 
should  occasion  arise,  the  plan  also  contemplates  supple- 
menting the  army  by  a  force  of  four  hundred  thousand 
disciplined  citizens,  raised  in  increments  of  one  hundred 
and  thirty-three  thousand  a  year  throughout  a  period  of 
three  years.  This  it  is  proposed  to  do  by  a  process  of 
enlistment  under  which  the  serviceable  men  of  the  coun- 
try would  be  asked  to  bind  themselves  to  serve  with  the 
colors  for  purposes  of  training  for  short  periods  through- 
out three  years,  and  to  come  to  the  colors  at  call  at  any 
time  throughout  an  additional ' '  furlough ' '  period  of  three 
years.  This  force  of  four  hundred  thousand  men  would 
be  provided  with  personal  accoutrements  as  fast  as  en- 
listed and  their  equipment  for  the  field  made  ready  to  be 
supplied  at  any  time.  They  would  be  assembled  for 


GREAT  SPEECHES  87 

training  at  stated  intervals  at  convenient  places  in  asso- 
ciation with  suitable  units  of  the  regular  army.  Their 
period  of  annual  training  would  not  necessarily  exceed 
two  months  in  the  year. 

It  would  depend  upon  the  patriotic  feeling  of  the 
younger  men  of  the  country  whether  they  responded  to 
such  a  call  to  service  or  not.  It  would  depend  upon  the 
patriotic  spirit  of  the  employers  of  the  country  whether 
they  made  it  possible  for  the  younger  men  in  their  employ 
to  respond  under  favorable  conditions  or  not.  I,  for  one, 
do  not  doubt  the  patriotic  devotion  either  of  our  young 
men  or  of  those  who  give  them  employment, — those  for 
whose  benefit  and  protection  they  would  in  fact  enlist. 
I  would  look  forward  to  the  success  of  such  an  experiment 
with  entire  confidence. 

At  least  so  much  by  way  of  preparation  for  defense 
seems  to  me  to  be  absolutely  imperative  now.  We  cannot 
do  less. 

The  programme  which  will  be  laid  before  you  by  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  is  similarily  conceived.  It  involves 
only  a  shortening  of  the  time  within  which  plans  long 
matured  shall  be  carried  out;  but  it  does  make  definite 
and  explicit  a  programme  which  has  heretofore  been  only 
implicit,  held  in  the  minds  of  the  Committees  on  Naval 
Affairs  and  disclosed  in  the  debates  of  the  two  Houses  but 
nowhere  formulated  or  formally  adopted.  It  seems  to 
me  very  clear  that  it  will  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  coun- 
try for  the  Congress  to  adopt  a  comprehensive  plan  for 
putting  the  navy  upon  a  final  footing  of  strength  and 
efficiency  and  to  press  that  plan  to  completion  within  the 
next  five  years.  We  have  always  looked  to  the  navy  of 
the  country  as  our  first  and  chief  line  of  defense;  we 
have  always  seen  it  to  be  our  manifest  course  of  prudence 


88  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

to  be  strong  on  the  seas.  Year  by  year  we  have  been 
creating  a  navy  which  now  ranks  very  high  indeed  among 
the  navies  of  the  maritime  nations.  We  should  now  defi- 
nitely determine  how  we  shall  complete  what  we  have 
begun,  and  how  soon. 

The  programme  to  be  laid  before  you  contemplates  the 
construction  within  five  years  of  ten  battleships,  six  battle 
cruisers,  ten  scout  cruisers,  fifty  destroyers,  fifteen  fleet 
submarines,  eighty-five  coast  submarines,  four  gunboats, 
one  hospital  ship,  two  ammunition  ships,  two  fuel  oil 
ships,  and  one  repair  ship.  It  is  proposed  that  of  this 
number  we  shall  the  first  year  provide  for  the  construc- 
tion of  two  battle  ships,  two  battle  cruisers,  three  scout 
cruisers,  fifteen  destroyers,  five  fleet  submarines,  twenty- 
five  coast  submarines,  two  gunboats,  and  one  hospital 
ship ;  the  second  year,  two  battleships,  one  scout  cruiser, 
ten  destroyers,  four  fleet  submarines,  fifteen  coast  sub- 
marines, one  gunboat,  and  one  fuel  oil  ship;  the  third 
year,  two  battle  ships,  one  battle  cruiser,  two  scout  cruis- 
ers, five  destroyers,  two  fleet  submarines,  and  fifteen 
coast  submarines;  the  fourth  year,  two  battle  ships,  two 
battle  cruisers,  two  scout  cruisers,  ten  destroyers,  two  fleet 
submarines,  fifteen  coast  submarines,  one  ammunition 
ship,  and  one  fuel  oil  ship ;  and  the  fifth  year,  two  battle 
ships,  one  battle  cruiser,  two  scout  cruisers,  ten  de- 
stroyers, two  fleet  submarines,  fifteen  coast  submarines, 
one  gunboat,  one  ammunition  ship,  and  one  repair  ship. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  is  asking  also  for  the  im- 
mediate addition  to  the  personnel  of  the  navy  of  seven 
thousand  five  hundred  sailors,  twenty-five  hundred  ap- 
prentice seamen,  and  fifteen  hundred  marines.  This  in- 
crease would  be  sufficient  to  care  for  the  ships  which  are 
to  be  completed  within  the  fiscal  year  1917  and  also  for 
the  number  of  men  which  must  be  put  in  training  to  man 


GREAT  SPEECHES  89 

the  ships  which  will  be  completed  early  in  1918.  It  is 
also  necessary  that  the  number  of  midshipmen  at  the 
Naval  Academy  at  Annapolis  should  be  increased  by  at 
least  three  hundred  in  order  that  the  force  of  officers 
should  be  more  rapidly  added  to ;  and  authority  is  asked 
to  appoint,  for  engineering  duties  only,  approved  grad- 
uates of  engineering  colleges,  and  for  service  in  the 
aviation  corps  a  certain  number  of  men  taken  from 
civil  life. 

If  this  full  programme  should  be  carried  out  we  should 
have  built  or  building  in  1921,  according  to  the  estimates 
of  survival  and  standards  of  classification  followed  by 
the  General  Board  of  the  Department,  an  effective  navy 
consisting  of  twenty-seven  battleships,  of  the  first  line,  six 
battle  cruisers,  twenty-five  battleships  of  the  second  line, 
ten  armored  cruisers,  thirteen  scout  cruisers,  five  first 
class  cruisers,  three  second  class  cruisers,  ten  third  class 
cruisers,  one  hundred  and  eight  destroyers,  eighteen  fleet 
submarines,  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  coast  subma- 
rines, six  monitors,  twenty  gunboats,  four  supply  ships, 
fifteen  fuel  ships,  four  transports,  three  tenders  to  tor- 
pedo vessels,  eight  vessels  of  special  types,  and  two  ammu- 
nition ships.  This  would  be  a  navy  fitted  to  our  needs 
and  worthy  of  our  traditions. 

But  armies  and  instruments  of  war  are  only  part  of 
what  has  to  be  considered  if  we  are  to  provide  for  the 
supreme  matter  of  national  self-sufficiency  and  security 
in  all  its  aspects.  There  are  other  great  matters  which 
will  be  thrust  upon  our  attention  whether  we  will  or  not. 
There  is,  for  example,  a  very  pressing  question  of  trade 
and  shipping  involved  in  this  great  problem  of  national 
adequacy.  It  is  necessary  for  many  weighty  reasons  of 
national  efficiency  and  development  that  we  should  have 


90  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

a  great  merchant  marine.  The  great  merchant  fleet  we 
once  used  to  make  us, rich,  that  great  body  of  sturdy 
sailors  who  used  to  carry  our  flag  into  every  sea,  and  who 
were  the  pride  and  often  the  bulwark  of  the  nation,  we 
have  almost  driven  out  of  existence  by  inexcusable  neg- 
lect and  indifference  and  by  a  hopelessly  blind  and  pro- 
vincial policy  of  so-called  economic  protection.  It  is  high 
time  we  repaired  our  mistake  and  resumed  our  commer- 
cial independence  on  the  seas. 

For  it  is  a  question  of  independence.  If  other  nations 
go  to  war  or  seek  to  hamper  each  other's  commerce,  our 
merchants,  it  seems,  are  at  their  mercy,  to  do  with  as  they 
please.  We  must  use  their  ships,  and  use  them  as  they 
determine.  We  have  not  ships  enough  of  our  own.  We 
cannot  handle  our  own  commerce  on  the  seas.  Our  inde- 
pendence is  provincial,  and  is  only  on  land  and  within  our 
own  borders.  We  are  not  likely  to  be  permitted  to  use 
even  the  ships  of  other  nations  in  rivalry  of  their  own 
trade,  and  are  without  means  to  extend  our  commerce 
even  where  the  doors  are  wide  open  and  our  goods  desired. 
Such  a  situation  is  not  to  be  endured.  It  is  of  capital 
importance  not  only  that  the  United  States  should  be  its 
own  carrier  on  the  seas  and  enjoy  the  economic  inde- 
pendence which  only  an  adequate  merchant  marine  would 
give  it,  but  also  that  the  American  hemisphere  as  a  whole 
should  enjoy  a  like  independence  and  self-sufficiency,  if 
it  is  not  to  be  drawn  into  the  tangle  of  European  affairs. 
Without  such  independence  the  whole  question  of  our 
political  unity  and  self-determination  is  very  seriously 
clouded  and  complicated  indeed. 

Moreover,  we  can  develop  no  true  or  effective  American 
policy  without  ships  of  our  own — not  ships  of  war,  but 
ships  of  peace,  carrying  goods  and  carrying  much  more : 
creating  friendships  and  rendering  indispensable  serv- 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  91 

ices  to  all  interests  on  this  side  the  water.  They  must 
move  constantly  back  and  forth  between  the  Americas. 
They  are  the  only  shuttles  that  can  weave  the  delicate 
fabric  of  sympathy,  comprehension,  confidence,  and  mu- 
tual dependence  in  which  we  wish  to  clothe  our  policy  of 
America  for  Americans. 

The  task  of  building  up  an  adequate  merchant  marine 
for  America,  private  capital  must  ultimately  undertake 
and  achieve,  as  it  has  undertaken  and  achieved  every 
other  like  task  amongst  us  in  the  past,  with  admirable 
enterprise,  intelligence,  and  vigor;  and  it  seems  to  me 
a  manifest  dictate  of  wisdom  that  we  should  promptly 
remove  every  legal  obstacle  that  may  stand  in  the  way 
of  this  much  to  be  desired  revival  of  our  old  independ- 
ence and  should  facilitate  in  every  possible  way  the  build- 
ing, purchase,  and  American  registration  of  ships.  But 
capital  cannot  accomplish  this  great  task  of  a  sudden. 
It  must  embark  upon  it  by  degrees,  as  the  opportunities 
of  trade  develop.  Something  must  be  done  at  once ;  done 
to  open  routes  and  develop  opportunities  where  they  are 
as  yet  undeveloped;  done  to  open  the  arteries  of  trade 
where  the  currents  have  not  yet  learned  to  run — espe- 
cially between  the  two  American  continents,  where  they 
are,  singularly  enough,  yet  to  be  created  and  quickened ; 
and  it  is  evident  that  only  the  government  can  under- 
take such  beginnings  and  assume  the  initial  financial 
risks.  When  the  risk  has  passed  and  private  capital 
begins  to  find  its  way  in  sufficient  abundance  into  these 
new  channels,  the  government  may  withdraw.  But  it 
cannot  omit  to  begin.  It  should  take  the  first  steps,  and 
should  take  them  at  once.  Our  goods  must  not  lie  piled 
up  at  our  ports  and  stored  upon  side  tracks  in  freight 
cars  which  are  daily  needed  on  the  roads;  must  not  be 
left  without  means  of  transport  to  any  foreign  quarter. 


92  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

"We  must  not  await  the  permission  of  foreign  sLip-owners 
and  foreign  governments  to  send  them  where  we  will. 

With  a  view  to  meeting  these  pressing  necessities  of 
our  commerce  and  availing  ourselves  at  the  earliest  pos- 
sible moment  of  the  present  unparalleled  opportunity  of 
linking  the  two  Americas  together  in  bonds  of  mutual 
interest  and  service,  an  opportunity  which  may  never 
return  again  if  we  miss  it  now,  proposals  will  be  made  to 
the  present  Congress  for  the  purchase  or  construction  of 
ships  to  be  owned  and  directed  by  the  government  similar 
to  those  made  to  the  last  Congress,  but  modified  in  some 
essential  particulars.  I  recommend  these  proposals  to 
you  for  your  prompt  acceptance  with  the  more  confi- 
dence because  every  month  that  has  elapsed  since  the 
former  proposals  were  made  has  made  the  necessity  for 
such  action  more  and  more  manifestly  imperative.  That 
need  was  then  foreseen ;  it  is  now  acutely  felt  and  every- 
where realized  by  those  for  whom  trade  is  waiting  but  who 
can  find  no  conveyance  for  their  goods.  I  am  not  so 
much  interested  in  the  particulars  of  the  programme  as 
I  am  in  taking  immediate  advantage  of  the  great  oppor- 
tunity which  awaits  us  if  we  will  but  act  in  this  emer- 
gency. In  this  matter,  as  in  all  others,  a  spirit  of  common 
counsel  should  prevail,  and  out  of  it  should  come  an  early 
solution  of  this  pressing  problem. 

There  is  another  matter  which  seems  to  me  to  be  very 
intimately  associated  with  the  question  of  national  safety 
and  preparation  for  defense.  That  is  our  policy  towards 
the  Philippines  and  the  people  of  Porto  Rico.  Our  treat- 
ment of  them  and  their  attitude  towards  us  are  manifestly 
of  the  first  consequence  in  the  development  of  our  duties 
in  the  world  and  in  getting  a  free  hand  to  perform  those 
duties.  We  must  be  free  from  every  unnecessary  burden 


GREAT  SPEECHES  93 

or  embarrassment ;  and  there  is  no  better  way  to  be  clear 
of  embarrassment  than  to  fulfil  our  promises  and  promote 
the  interests  of  those  dependent  on  us  to  the  utmost. 
Bills  for  the  alteration  and  reform  of  the  government  of 
the  Philippines  and  for  rendering  fuller  political  justice 
to  the  people  of  Porto  Rico  were  submitted  to  the  sixty- 
third  Congress.  They  will  be  submitted  also  to  you.  I 
need  not  particularize  their  details.  You  are  most  of  you 
already  familiar  with  them.  But  I  do  recommend  them 
to  -your  early  adoption  with  the  sincere  conviction  that 
there  are  few  measures  you  could  adopt  which  would  more 
serviceably  clear  the  way  for  the  great  policies  by  which 
we  wish  to  make  good,  now  and  always,  our  right  to  lead 
in  enterprises  of  peace  and  good  will  and  economic  and 
political  freedom. 


I  have  spoken  to  you  to-day,  Gentlemen,  upon  a  single 
theme,  the  thorough  preparation  of  the  nation  to  care 
for  its  own  security  and  to  make  sure  of  entire  freedom 
to  play  the  impartial  role  in  this  hemisphere  and  in  the 
world  which  we  all  believe  to  have  been  providentially 
assigned  to  it.  I  have  had  in  my  mind  no  thought  of 
any  immediate  or  particular  danger  arising  out  of  our 
relations  with  other  nations.  We  are  at  peace  with 
all  the  nations  of  the  world,  and  there  is  reason  to  hope 
that  no  question  in  controversy  between  this  and  other 
Governments  will  lead  to  any  serious  breach  of  amicable 
relations,  grave  as  some  differences  of  attitude  and 
policy  have  been  and  may  yet  turn  out  to  be.  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  the  greatest  threats  against  our  na- 
tional peace  and  safety  have  been  uttered  within  our 
own  borders.  There  are  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
I  blush  to  admit,  born  under  other  flags  but  welcomed 


94  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

under  our  generous  naturalization  laws  to  the  full  free- 
dom and  opportunity  of  America,  who  have  poured  the 
poison  of  disloyalty  into  the  very  arteries  of  our  national 
life ;  who  have  sought  to  bring  the  authority  and  good 
name  of  our  Government  into  contempt,  to  destroy  our 
industries  wherever  they  thought  it  effective  for  their 
vindictive  purposes  to  strike  at  them,  and  to  debase 
our  politics  to  the  uses  of  foreign  intrigue.  Their  num- 
ber is  not  great  as  compared  with  the  whole  number 
of  those  sturdy  hosts  by  which  our  nation  has  been 
enriched  in  recent  generations  out  of  virile  foreign 
stocks ;  but  it  is  great  enough  to  have  brought  deep  dis- 
grace upon  us  and  to  have  made  it  necessary  that  we 
should  promptly  make  use  of  processes  of  law  by 
which  we  may  be  purged  of  their  corrupt  distempers. 
America  never  witnessed  anything  like  this  before. 
It  never  dreamed  it  possible  that  men  sworn  into  its 
own  citizenship,  men  drawn  out  of  great  free  stocks 
such  as  supplied  some  of  the  best  and  strongest  ele- 
ments of  that  little,  but  how  heroic,  nation  that  in  a  high 
day  of  old  staked  its  very  life  to  free  itself  from  every 
entanglement  that  had  darkened  the  fortunes  of  the 
older  nations  and  set  up  a  new  standard  here, — that 
men  of  such  origins  and  such  free  choices  of  allegiance 
would  ever  turn  in  malign  reaction  against  the  Govern- 
ment and  people  who  have  welcomed  and  nurtured  them 
and  seek  to  make  this  proud  country  once  more  a  hot- 
bed of  European  passion.  A  little  while  ago  such  a 
thing  would  have  seemed  incredible.  Because  it  was 
incredible  we  made  no  preparation  for  it.  We  would 
have  been  almost  ashamed  to  prepare  for  it,  as  if  we 
were  suspicious  of  ourselves,  our  own  comrades  and 
neighbors!  But  the  ugly  and  incredible  thing  has  act- 
ually come  about  and  we  are  without  adequate  federal 


GREAT  SPEECHES  95 

laws  to  deal  with  it.  I  urge  you  to  enact  such  laws  at 
the  earliest  possible  moment  and  feel  that  in  doing  so 
I  am  urging  you  to  do  nothing  less  than  save  the  honor 
and  self-respect  of  the  nation.  Such  creatures  of  pas- 
sion, disloyalty,  and  anarchy  must  be  crushed  out.  They 
are  not  many,  but  they  are  infinitely  malignant,  and  the 
hand  of  our  power  should  close  over  them  at  once. 
They  have  formed  plots  to  destroy  property,  they  have 
entered  into  conspiracies  against  the  neutrality  of  the 
Government,  they  have  sought  to  pry  into  every  con- 
fidential transaction  of  the  Government  in  order  to 
serve  interests  alien  to  our  own.  It  is  possible  to  deal 
with  these  things  very  effectually.  I  need  not  suggest 
the  terms  in  which  they  may  be  dealt  with. 

I  wish  that  it  could  be  said  that  only  a  few  men, 
misled  by  mistaken  sentiments  of  allegiance  to  the  gov- 
ernments under  which  they  were  born,  had  been  guilty 
of  disturbing  the  self-possession  and  misrepresenting 
the  temper  and  principles  of  the  country  during  these 
days  of  terrible  war,  when  it  would  seem  that  every 
man  who  was  truly  an  American  would  instinctively 
make  it  his  duty  and  his  pride  to  keep  the  scales  of 
judgment  even  and  prove  himself  a  partisan  of  no  na- 
tion but  his  own.  But  it  cannot.  There  are  some  men 
among  us,  and  many  resident  abroad  who,  though  born 
and  bred  in  the  United  States  and  calling  themselves 
Americans,  have  so  forgotten  themselves  and  their 
honor  as  citizens  as  to  put  their  passionate  sympathy 
with  one  or  the  other  side  in  the  great  European  conflict 
above  their  regard  for  the  peace  and  dignity  of  the 
United  States.  They  also  preach  and  practice  disloy- 
alty. No  laws,  I  suppose,  can  reach  corruptions  of  the 
mind  and  heart ;  but  I  should  not  speak  of  others  with- 
out also  speaking  of  these  and  expressing  the  even 


96  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

deeper  humiliation  and  scorn  which  every  self-possessed 
and  thoughtfully  patriotic  American  must  feel  when  he 
thinks  of  them  and  of  the  discredit  they  are  daily  bring- 
ing upon  us. 

While  we  speak  of  the  preparation  of  the  nation  to 
make  sure  of  her  security  and  her  effective  power  we 
must  not  fall  into  the  patent  error  of  supposing  that 
her  real  strength  comes  from  armaments  and  mere 
safeguards  of  written  law.  It  comes,  of  course,  from 
her  people,  their  energy,  their  success  in  their  under- 
takings, their  free  opportunity  to  use  the  natural  re- 
sources of  our  great  home  land  and  of  the  lands  outside 
our  continental  borders  which  look  to  us  for  protection, 
for  encouragement,  and  for  assistance  in  their  develop- 
ment ;  from  the  organization  and  freedom  and  vitality  of 
our  economic  life.  The  domestic  questions  which  en- 
gaged the  attention  of  the  last  Congress  are  more  vital 
to  the  nation  in  this  its  time  of  test  than  at  any  other 
time.  We  cannot  adequately  make  ready  for  any  trial 
of  our  strength  unless  we  wisely  and  promptly  direct 
the  force  of  our  laws  into  these  all-important  fields  of 
domestic  action.  A  matter  which  it  seems  to  me  we 
should  have  very  much  at  heart  is  the  creation  of  the 
right  instrumentalities  by  which  to  mobilize  our  eco- 
nomic resources  in  any  time  of  national  necessity.  I 
take  it  for  granted  that  I  do  not  need  your  authority 
to  call  into  systematic  consultation  with  the  directing 
officers  of  the  army  and  navy  men  of  recognized  leader- 
ship and  ability  from  among  our  citizens  who  are  thor- 
oughly familiar,  for  example,  with  the  transportation 
facilities  of  the  country  and  therefore  competent  to 
advise  how  they  may  be  coordinated  when  the  need 
arises,  those  who  can  suggest  the  best  way  in  which 


GREAT  SPEECHES  97 

to  bring  about  prompt  cooperation  among  the  manufac- 
turers of  the  country,  should  it  be  necessary,  and  those 
who  could  assist  to  bring  the  technical  skill  of  the  coun- 
try to  the  aid  of  the  Government  in  the  solution  of  par- 
ticular problems  of  defense.  I  only  hope  that  if  I  should 
find  it  feasible  to  constitute  such  an  advisory  body  the 
Congress  would  be  willing  to  vote  the  small  sum  of 
money  that  would  be  needed  to  defray  the  expenses  that 
would  probably  be  necessary  to  give  it  the  clerical  and 
administrative  machinery  with  which  to  do  serviceable 
work. 

What  is  more  important  is,  that  the  industries  and 
resources  of  the  country  should  be  available  and  ready 
for  mobilization.  It  is  the  more  imperatively  neces- 
sary, therefore,  that  we  should  promptly  devise  means 
for  doing  what  we  have  not  yet  done :  that  we  should 
give  intelligent  federal  aid  and  stimulation  to  indus- 
trial and  vocational  education,  as  we  have  long  done 
in  the  large  field  of  our  agricultural  industry ;  that,  at 
the  same  time  that  we  safeguard  and  conserve  the 
natural  resources  of  the  country  we  should  put  them  at 
the  disposal  of  those  who  will  use  them  promptly  and 
intelligently,  as  was  sought  to  be  done  in  the  admirable 
bills  submitted  to  the  last  Congress  from  its  commit- 
tees on  the  public  lands,  bills  which  I  earnestly  recom- 
mend in  principle  to  your  consideration ;  that  we  should 
put  into  early  operation  some  provision  for  rural  credits 
which  will  add  to  the  extensive  borrowing  facilities 
already  afforded  the  farmer  by  the  Reserve  Bank  Act 
adequate  instrumentalities  by  which  long  credits  may 
be  obtained  on  land  mortgages;  and  that  we  should 
study  more  carefully  than  they  have  hitherto  been 
studied  the  right  adaptation  of  our  economic  arrange- 
ments to  changing  conditions. 


98  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

Many  conditions  about  which  we  have  repeatedly 
legislated  are  being  altered  from  decade  to  decade,  it 
is  evident,  under  our  very  eyes,  and  are  likely  to  change 
even  more  rapidly  and  more  radically  in  the  days  im- 
mediately ahead  of  us,  when  peace  has  returned  to  the 
world  and  the  nations  of  Europe  once  more  take  up 
their  tasks  of  commerce  and  industry  with  the  energy 
of  those  who  must  bestir  themselves  to  build  anew. 
Just  what  these  changes  will  be  no  one  can  certainly 
foresee  or  confidently  predict.  There  are  no  calculable, 
because  no  stable,  elements  in  the  problem.  The  most 
we  can  do  is  to  make  certain  that  we  have  the  necessary 
instrumentalities  of  information  constantly  at  our  serv- 
ice so  that  we  may  be  sure  that  we  know  exactly  what 
we  are  dealing  with  when  we  come  to  act,  if  it  should  be 
necessary  to  act  at  all.  "We  must  first  certainly  know 
what  it  is  that  we  are  seeking  to  adapt  ourselves  to. 
I  may  ask  the  privilege  of  addressing  you  more  at 
length  on  this  important  matter  a  little  later  in  your 
session. 

In  the  meantime  may  I  make  this  suggestion?  The 
transportation  problem  is  an  exceedingly  serious  and 
pressing  one  in  this  country.  There  has  from  time  to 
time  of  late  been  reason  to  fear  that  our  railroads  would 
not  much  longer  be  able  to  cope  with  it  successfully,  as 
at  present  equipped  and  coordinated.  I  suggest  that 
it  would  be  wise  to  provide  for  a  commission  of  inquiry 
to  ascertain  by  a  thorough  canvass  of  the  whole  question 
whether  our  laws  as  at  present  framed  and  adminis- 
tered are  as  serviceable  as  they  might  be  in  the  solution 
of  the  problem.  It  is  obviously  a  problem  that  lies  at 
the  very  foundation  of  our  efficiency  as  a  people.  Such 
an  inquiry  ought  to  draw  out  every  circumstance  and 
opinion  worth  considering  and  we  need  to  know  all 


GKEAT  SPEECHES  99 

sides  of  the  matter  if  we  mean  to  do  anything  in  the 
field  of  federal  legislation. 

No  one,  I  am  sure,  would  wish  to  take  any  backward 
step.  The  regulation  of  the  railways  of  the  country  by 
federal  commission  has  had  admirable  results  and  has 
fully  justified  the  hopes  and  expectations  of  those  by 
whom  the  policy  of  regulation  was  originally  proposed. 
The  question  is  not  what  should  we  undo  ?  It  is,  whether 
there  is  anything  else  we  can  do  that  would  supply  us 
with  effective  means,  in  the  very  process  of  regulation, 
for  bettering  the  conditions  under  which  the  railroads 
are  operated  and  for  making  them  more  useful  servants 
of  the  country  as  a  whole.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  might 
be  the  part  of  wisdom,  therefore,  before  further  legisla- 
tion in  this  field  is  attempted,  to  look  at  the  whole  prob- 
lem of  coordination  and  efficiency  in  the  full  light  of 
a  fresh  assessment  of  circumstance  and  opinion,  as  a 
guide  to  dealing  with  the  several  parts  of  it. 

For  what  we  are  seeking  now,  what  in  my  mind  is 
the  single  thought  of  this  message,  is  national  efficiency 
and  security.  We  serve  a  great  nation.  We  should 
serve  it  in  the  spirit  of  its  peculiar  genius.  It  is  the 
genius  of  common  men  for  self-government,  industry, 
justice,  liberty  and  peace.  We  should  see  to  it  that  it 
lacks  no  instrument,  no  facility  or  vigor  of  law,  to  make 
it  sufficient  to  play  its  part  with  energy,  safety,  and 
assured  success.  In  this  we  are  no  partisans  but  heralds 
and  prophets  of  a  new  age. 


100  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

THE  SUBMARINE  PERIL 

President  Wilson's  Address  to  Congress,  April  19, 1916, 
on  German  Violations  of  International  Law 

GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  CONGRESS:   . 

A  situation  has  arisen  in  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
country  of  which  it  is  my  plain  duty  to  inform  you  very 
frankly. 

It  will  be  recalled  that  in  February,  1915,  the  Imperial 
German  Government  announced  its  intention  to  treat 
the  waters  surrounding  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  as 
embraced  within  the  seat  of  war  and  to  destroy  all 
merchant  ships  owned  by  its  enemies  that  might  be 
found  within  any  part  of  that  portion  of  the  high  seas, 
and  that  it  warned  all  vessels,  of  neutral  as  well  as  of 
belligerent  ownership,  to  keep  out  of  the  waters  it  had 
thus  proscribed  or  else  enter  them  at  their  peril.  The 
Government  of  the  United  States  earnestly  protested. 
It  took  the  position  that  such  a  policy  could  not  be 
pursued  without  the  practical  certainty  of  gross  and 
palpable  violations  of  the  law  of  nations,  particularly 
if  submarine  craft  were  to  be  employed  as  its  instru- 
ments, inasmuch  as  the  rules  prescribed  by  that  law, 
rules  founded  upon  principles  of  humanity  and  estab- 
lished for  the  protection  of  the  lives  of  non-combatants 
at  sea,  could  not  in  the  nature  of  the  case  be  observed 
by  such  vessels.  It  based  its  protest  on  the  ground  that 
persons  of  neutral  nationality  and  vessels  of  neutral 
ownership  would  be  exposed  to  extreme  and  intolerable 
risks,  and  tha.t  no  right  to  close  any  part  of  the  high 
seas  against  their  use  or  to  expose  them  to  such  risks 
could  lawfully  be  asserted  by  any  belligerent  govern- 
ment. The  law  of  nations  in  these  matters,  upon  which 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  101 

the  Government  of  the  United  States  based  its  protest, 
is  not  of  recent  origin  or  founded  upon  merely  arbitrary 
principles  set  up  by  convention.  It  is  based,  on  the 
contrary,  upon  manifest  and  imperative  principles  of 
humanity  and  has  long  been  established  with  the  ap- 
proval and  by  the  express  assent  of  all  civilized  nations. 

Notwithstanding  the  earnest  protest  of  our  Govern- 
ment, the  Imperial  German  Government  at  once  pro- 
ceeded to  carry  out  the  policy  it  had  announced.  It 
expressed  the  hope  that  the  dangers  involved,  at  any 
rate  the  dangers  to  neutral  vessels,  would  be  reduced  to 
a  minimum  by  the  instructions  which  it  had  issued  to 
its  submarine  commanders,  and  assured  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  that  it  would  take  every 
possible  precaution  both  to  respect  the  rights  of  neu- 
trals and  to  safeguard  the  lives  of  non-combatants. 

What  has  actually  happened  in  the  year  which  has 
since  elapsed  has  shown  that  those  hopes  were  not  justi- 
fied, those  assurances  insusceptible  of  being  fulfilled. 
In  pursuance  of  the  policy  of  submarine  warfare  against 
the  commerce  of  its  adversaries,  thus  announced  and 
entered  upon  by  the  Imperial  German  Government  in 
despite  of  the  solemn  protest  of  this  Government,  the 
commanders  of  German  undersea  vessels  have  attacked 
merchant  ships  with  greater  and  greater  activity,  not 
only  upon  the  high  seas  surrounding  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  but  wherever  they  could  encounter  them,  in  a 
way  that  has  grown  more  and  more  ruthless,  more  and 
more  indiscriminate  as  the  months  have  gone  by,  tess 
and  less  observant  of  restraints  of  any  kind;  and  have 
delivered  their  attacks  without  compunction  against 
vessels  of  every  nationality  and  bound  upon  every  sort 
of  errand.  Vessels  of  neutral  ownership,  even  vessels 
of  neutral  ownership  bound  from  neutral  port  to  neutral 


102  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

port,  have  been  destroyed  along  with  vessels  of  bel- 
ligerent ownership  in  constantly  increasing  numbers. 
Sometimes  the  merchantman  attacked  has  been  warned 
and  summoned  to  surrender  before  being  fired  on  or 
torpedoed;  sometimes  passengers  or  crews  have  been 
vouchsafed  the  poor  security  of  being  allowed  to  take 
to  the  ship's  boats  before  she  was  sent  to  the  bottom. 
But  again  and  again  no  warning  has  been  given,  no 
escape  even  to  the  ship's  boats  allowed  to  those  on 
board.  What  this  Government  foresaw  must  happen 
has  happened.  Tragedy  has  followed  tragedy  on  the 
seas  in  such  fashion,  with  such  attendant  circumstances, 
as  to  make  it  grossly  evident  that  warfare  of  such  a 
sort,  if  warfare  it  be,  cannot  be  carried  on  without  the 
most  palpable  violation  of  the  dictates  alike  of  right 
and  of  humanity.  Whatever  the  disposition  and  inten- 
tion of  the  Imperial  German  Government,  it  has  mani- 
festly proved  impossible  for  it  to  keep  such  methods 
of  attack  upon  the  commerce  of  its  enemies  within  the 
bounds  set  by  either  the  reason  or  the  heart  of  mankind. 
In  February  of  the  present  year  the  Imperial  German 
Government  informed  this  Government  and  the  other 
neutral  governments  of  the  world  that  it  had  reason  to 
believe  that  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  had  armed 
all  merchant  vessels  of  British  ownership  and  had  given 
them  secret  orders  to  attack  any  submarine  of  the  enemy 
they  might  encounter  upon  the  seas;  and  that  the  Impe- 
rial German  Government  felt  justified  in  the  circum- 
stances in  treating  all  armed  merchantmen  of  belliger- 
ent ownership  as  auxiliary  vessels  of  war,  which  it 
would  have  the  right  to  destroy  without  warning.  The 
law  of  nations  has  long  recognized  the  right  of  mer- 
chantmen to  carry  arms  for  protection  and  to  use  them 
to  repel  attack,  though  to  use  them,  in  such  circum- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  103 

stances,  at  their  own  risk;  but  the  Imperial  German 
Government  claimed  the  right  to  set  these  understand- 
ings aside  in  circumstances  which  it  deemed  extraor- 
dinary. Even  the  terms  in  which  it  announced  its 
purpose  thus  still  further  to  relax  the  restraints  it  had 
previously  professed  its  willingness  and  desire  to  put 
upon  the  operations  of  its  submarines  carried  the  plain 
implication  that  at  least  vessels  which  were  not  armed 
would  still  be  exempt  from  destruction  without  warning 
and  that  personal  safety  would  be  accorded  their  pas- 
sengers and  crews;  but  even  that  limitation,  if  it  was 
ever  practicable  to  observe  it,  has  in  fact  constituted  no 
check  at  all  upon  the  destruction  of  ships  of  every  sort. 
Again  and  again  the  Imperial  German  Government 
has  given  this  Government  its  solemn  assurances  that  at 
least  passenger  ships  would  not  be  thus  dealt  with,  and 
yet  it  has  again  and  again  permitted  its  undersea  com- 
manders to  disregard  those  assurances  with  entire  im- 
punity. Great  liners  like  the  Lusitania  and  the  Arabic 
and  mere  ferryboats  like  the  Sussex  have  been  attacked 
without  a  moment's  warning,  sometimes  before  they  had 
even  become  aware  that  they  were  in  the  presence  of  an 
armed  vessel  of  the  enemy,  and  the  lives  of  non-com- 
batants, passengers  and  crew,  have  been  sacrificed 
wholesale,  in  a  manner  which  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  cannot  but  regard  as  wanton  and  without 
the  slightest  color  of  justification.  No  limit  of  any  kind 
has  in  fact  been  set  to  the  indiscriminate  pursuit  and 
destruction  of  merchantmen  of  all  kinds  and  nationali- 
ties within  the  waters,  constantly  extending  in  area, 
where  these  operations  have  been  carried  on;  and  the 
roll  of  Americans  who  have  lost  their  lives  on  ships  thus 
attacked  and  destroyed  has  grown  month  by  month 
until  the  ominous  toll  has  mounted  into  the  hundreds. 


1Q4  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

One  of  the  latest  and  most  shocking  instances  of  this 
method  of  warfare  was  that  of  the  destruction  of  the 
French  cross-Channel  steamer  Sussex.  It  must  stand 
forth,  as  the  sinking  of  the  steamer  Lusitania  did,  as  so 
singularly  tragical  and  unjustifiable  as  to  constitute  a 
truly  terrible  example  of  the  inhumanity  of  submarine 
warfare  as  the  commanders  of  German  vessels  have  for 
the  past  twelvemonth  been  conducting  it.  If  this  in- 
stance stood  alone,  some  explanation,  some  disavowal 
by  the  German  Government,  some  evidence  of  criminal 
mistake  or  wilful  disobedience  on  the  part  of  the  com- 
mander of  the  vessel  that  fired  the  torpedo  might  be 
sought  or  entertained ;  but  unhappily  it  does  not  stand 
alone.  Eecent  events  make  the  conclusion  inevitable 
that  it  is  only  one  instance,  even  though  it  be  one  of  the 
most  extreme  and  distressing  instances,  of  the  spirit  and 
method  of  warfare  which  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment has  mistakenly  adopted,  and  which  from  the  first 
exposed  that  Government  to  the  reproach  of  thrusting 
all  neutral  rights  aside  in  pursuit  of  its  immediate 
objects. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  been  very 
patient.  At  every  stage  of  this  distressing  experience 
of  tragedy  after  tragedy  in  which  its  own  citizens  were 
involved  it  has  sought  to  be  restrained  from  any  extreme 
course  of  action  or  of  protest  by  a  thoughtful  considera- 
tion of  the  extraordinary  circumstances  of  this  unprece- 
dented war,  and  actuated  in  all  that  it  said  or  did  by  the 
sentiments  of  genuine  friendship  which  the  people  of  the 
United  States  have  always  entertained  and  continue  to 
entertain  towards  the  German  nation.  It  has,  of  course, 
accepted  the  successive  explanations  and  assurances 
of  the  Imperial  German  Government  as  given  in  entire 
sincerity  and  good  faith,  and  has  hoped,  even  against 


GREAT  SPEECHES  105 

hope,  that  it  would  prove  to  be  possible  for  the  German 
Government  so  to  order  and  control  the  acts  of  its  naval 
commanders  as  to  square  its  policy  with  the  principles 
of  humanity  as  embodied  in  the  law  of  nations.  It  has 
been  willing  to  wait  until  the  significance  of  the  facts 
became  absolutely  unmistakable  and  susceptible  of  but 
one  interpretation. 

That  point  has  now  unhappily  been  reached.  The 
facts  are  susceptible  of  but  one  interpretation.  The 
Imperial  German  Government  has  been  unable  to  put 
any  limits  or  restraints  upon  its  warfare  against  either 
freight  or  passenger  ships.  It  has  therefore  become 
painfully  evident  that  the  position  which  this  Govern- 
ment took  at  the  very  outset  is  inevitable,  namely,  that 
the  use  of  submarines  for  the  destruction  of  an  enemy's 
commerce  is  of  necessity,  because  of  the  very  character 
of  the  vessels  employed  and  the  very  methods  of  attack 
which  their  employment  of  course  involves,  incompat- 
ible with  the  principles  of  humanity,  the  long  estab- 
lished and  incontrovertible  rights  of  neutrals,  and  the 
sacred  immunities  of  non-combatants. 

I  have  deemed  it  my  duty,  therefore,  to  say  to  the 
Imperial  German  Government  that  if  it  is  still  its  pur- 
pose to  prosecute  relentless  and  indiscriminate  warfare 
against  vessels  of  commerce  by  the  use  of  submarines, 
notwithstanding  the  now  demonstrated  impossibility  of 
conducting  that  warfare  in  accordance  with  what  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  must  consider  the 
sacred  and  indisputable  rules  of  international  law  and 
the  universally  recognized  dictates  of  humanity,  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  is  at  last  forced  to 
the  conclusion  that  there  is  but  one  course  it  can  pursue ; 
and  that  unless  the  Imperial  German  Government 
should  now  immediately  declare  and  effect  an  abandon- 


106  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

merit  of  its  present  methods  of  warfare  against  pas- 
senger and  freight  carrying  vessels  this  Government 
can  have  no  choice  but  to  sever  diplomatic  relations  with 
the  Government  of  the  German  Empire  altogether. 

This  decision  I  have  arrived  at  with  the  keenest 
regret;  the  possibility  of  the  action  contemplated  I 
am  sure  all  thoughtful  Americans  will  look  forward  to 
with  unaffected,reluctance.  But  we  cannot  forget  that 
we  are  in  some  sort  and  by  the  force  of  circumstances 
the  responsible  spokesmen  of  the  rights  of  humanity, 
and  that  we  cannot  remain  silent  while  those  rights 
seem  in  process  of  being  swept  utterly  away  in  the 
maelstrom  of  this  terrible  war.  We  owe  it  to  a  due 
regard  for  our  own  rights  as  a  nation,  to  our  sense  of 
duty  as  a  representative  of  the  rights  of  neutrals  the 
world  over,  and  to  a  just  conception  of  the  rights  of 
mankind  to  take  this  stand  now  with  the  utmost  solemnity 
and  firmness. 

I  have  taken  it,  and  taken  it  in  the  confidence  that 
it  will  meet  with  your  approval  and  support.  All  sober- 
minded  men  must  unite  in  hoping  that  the  Imperial 
German  Government,  which  has  in  other  circumstances 
stood  as  the  champion  of  all  that  we  are  now  contending 
for  in  the  interest  of  humanity,  may  recognize  the  jus- 
tice of  our  demands  and  meet  them  in  the  spirit  in 
which  they  are  made. 


•  GREAT  SPEECHES  107 

THE  PRESIDENT'S  INNER  SELF 

Remarkable  Heart-to- Heart  Talk  to  Newspaper  Men  at 
the  National  Press  Club,  May  15,  1916 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  PRESS  CLUB  : 

I  am  both  glad  and  sorry  to  be  here ;  glad  because  I  am 
always  happy  to  be  with  you,  and  know  and  like  so  many 
of  you,  and  sorry  because  I  have  to  make  a  speech.  One 
of  the  leading  faults  of  you  gentlemen  of  the  press  is 
your  inordinate  desire  to  hear  other  men  talk,  to  draw 
them  out  upon  all  occasions,  whether  they  wish  to  be 
drawn  out  or  not.  I  remember  being  in  this  Press  Club 
once  before,  making  many  unpremeditated  disclosures  of 
myself,  and  then  having  you  with  your  singular  instinct 
for  publicity  insist  that  I  should  give  it  away  to  every- 
body else. 

I  was  thinking  as  I  was  looking  forward  to  coming 
here  this  evening  of  that  other  occasion  when  I  stood 
very  nearly  at  the  threshold  of  the  duties  that  I  have 
since  been  called  upon  to  perform,  and  I  was  going  over 
in  my  mind  the  impressions  that  I  then  had  by  way  of 
forecast  of  the  duties  of  President  and  comparing  them 
with  the  experiences  that  have  followed.  I  must  say 
that  the  forecast  has  been  very  largely  verified,  and  that 
the  impressions  I  had  then  have  been  deepened  rather 
than  weakened. 

You  may  recall  that  I  said  then  that  I  felt  constantly  a 
personal  detachment  from  the  Presidency ;  that  one  thing 
that  I  resented  when  I  was  not  performing  the  duties  of 
the  office  was  being  reminded  that  I  was  the  President 
of  the  United  States.  I  felt  toward  it  as  a  man  feels 
toward  a  great  function  which,  in  working  hours,  he  is 
obliged  to  perform,  but  which,  out  of  working  hours,  he 


108  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

is  glad  to  get  away  from  and  almost  forget  and  resume 
the  quiet  course  of  his  own  thoughts.  I  am  constantly 
reminded  as  I  go  about,  as  I  do  sometimes  at  the  week 
end,  of  the  personal  inconvenience  of  being  President  of 
the  United  States.  If  I  want  to  know  how  many  people 
live  in  a  small  town  all  I  have  to  do  is  to  go  there  and 
they  at  once  line  up  to  be  counted.  I  might,  in  a  c^nsus- 
taking  year,  save  the  census  takers  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
by  asking  them  to  accompany  me  and  count  the  people 
on  the  spot.  Sometimes,  when  I  am  most  beset,  I  seri- 
ously think  of  renting  a  pair  of  whiskers  or  of  doing 
something  else  that  will  furnish  me  with  an  adequate 
disguise,  because  I  am  sorry  to  find  that  the  cut  of  my 
jib  is  unmistakable  and  that  I  must  sail  under  false  colors 
if  I  am  going  to  sail  incognito. 

Yet  as  I  have  matched  my  experiences  with  my  antici- 
pations, I,  of  course,  have  been  aware  that  I  was  taken 
by  surprise  because  of  the  prominence  of  many  things 
to  which  I  had  not  looked  forward.  When  we  are  deal- 
ing with  domestic  affairs,  gentlemen,  we  are  dealing  with 
things  that  to  us  as  Americans  are  more  or  less  calculable. 
There  is  a  singular  variety  among  our  citizenship,  it  is 
true,  a  greater  variety  even  than  I  had  anticipated ;  but, 
after  all,  we  are  all  steeped  in  the  same  atmosphere,  we 
are  all  surrounded  by  the  same  environment,  we  are  all 
more  or  less  affected  by  the  same  traditions,  and,  more- 
over, we  are  working  out  something  that  has  to  be  worked 
out  among  ourselves,  and  the  elements  are  there  to  be 
dealt  with  at  first  hand.  But  when  the  fortunes  of  your 
own  country  are,  so  to  say,  subject  to  the  incalculable 
winds  of  passion  that  are  blowing  through  other  parts 
of  the  world,  then  the  strain  is  of  a  singular  and  unpre- 
cedented kind,  because  you  do  not  know  by  what  turn  of 
the  wheel  of  fortune  the  control  of  things  is  going  to  be 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  109 

taken  out  of  your  hand ;  it  makes  no  difference  how  deep 
the  passion  of  the  Nation  lies,  that  passion  may  be  so 
overborne  by  the  rush  of  fortune  in  circumstances  like 
those  which  now  exist  that  you  feel  the  sort  of — I  had 
almost  said  resentment  that  a  man  feels  when  his  own 
affairs  are  not  within  his  own  hands.  You  can  imagine 
the  strain  upon  the  feeling  of  any  man  who  is  trying  to 
interpret  the  spirit  of  his  country  when  he  feels  that  that 
spirit  can  not  have  its  own  way  beyond  a  certain  point. 
And  one  of  the  greatest  points  of  strain  upon  me,  if  I 
may  be  permitted  to  point  it  out,  was  this : 

There  are  two  reasons  why  the  chief  wish  of  America 
is  for  peace.  One  is  that  they  love  peace  and  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  present  quarrel ;  and  the  other  is  that 
they  believe  the  present  quarrel  has  carried  those  engaged 
in  it  so  far  that  they  can  not  be  held  to  ordinary  stand- 
ards of  responsibility,  and  that,  therefore,  as  some  men 
have  expressed  it  to  me,  since  the  rest  of  the  world  is  mad, 
why  should  we  not  simply  refuse  to  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  rest  of  the  world  in  the  ordinary  channels  of 
action  ?  Why  not  let  the  storm  pass,  and  then,  when  it 
is  all  over,  have  the  reckonings?  Knowing  that  from 
both  these  two  points  of  view  the  passion  of  America  was 
for  peace,  I  was,  nevertheless,  aware  that  America  is  one 
of  the  Nations  of  the  world,  not  only,  but  one  of  the  chief 
Nations  of  the  world — a  Nation  that  grows  more  and  more 
powerful  almost  in  spite  of  herself;  that  grows  morally 
more  and  more  influential  even  when  she  is  not  aware  of 
it;  and  that  if  she  is  to  play  the  part  which  she  most 
covets,  it  is  necessary  that  she  should  act  more  or  less 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  If  I  can 
not  retain  my  moral  influence  over  a  man  except  by  occa- 
sionally knocking  him  down,  if  that  is  the  only  basis  upon 
which  he  will  respect  me,  then  for  the  sake  of  his  soul  I 


HO  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

have  got  occasionally  to  knock  him  down.  You  know  ho\r 
we  have  read  in — isn't  it  in  Ralph  Connor's  stories  of 
western  life  in  Canada  ? — that  all  his  sky  pilots  are  ready 
for  a  fracas  at  any  time,  and  how  the  ultimate  salvation 
of  the  souls  of  their  parishioners  depends  upon  their 
using  their  fists  occasionally.  If  a  man  will  not  listen  to 
you  quietly  in  a  seat,  sit  on  his  neck  and  make  him  listen ; 
just  as  I  have  always  maintained,  particularly  in  view  of 
certain  experiences  of  mine,  that  the  shortest  road  to  a 
boy 's  moral  sense  is  through  his  cuticle.  There  is  a  direct 
and,  if  I  may  be  permitted  the  pun,  a  fundamental  con- 
nection between  the  surface  of  his  skin  and  his  moral 
consciousness.  You  arrest  his  attention  first  in  that  way, 
and  then  get  the  moral  lesson  conveyed  to  him  in  milder 
ways  that,  if  he  were  grown  up,  would  be  the  only  ways 
you  would  use. 

So  I  say  that  I  have  been  aware  that  in  order  to  do  the 
very  thing  that  we  are  proudest  of  the  ability  to  do,  there 
might  come  a  time  when  we  would  have  to  do  it  in  a  way 
that  we  would  prefer  not  to  do  it ;  and  the  great  burden  on 
my  spirits,  gentlemen,  has  been  that  it  has  been  up  to  me 
to  choose  when  that  time  came.  Can  you  imagine  a  thing 
more  calculated  to  keep  a  man  awake  at  nights  than  that  ? 
Because,  just  because  I  did  not  feel  that  I  was  the  whole 
thing  and  was  aware  that  my  duty  was  a  duty  of  inter- 
pretation, how  could  I  be  sure  that  I  had  the  right  ele- 
ments of  information  by  which  to  interpret  truly? 

"What  we  are  now  talking  about  is  largely  spiritual 
You  say,  "All  the  people  out  my  way  think  so  and  so." 
Now,  I  know  perfectly  well  that  you  have  not  talked  with 
all  the  people  out  your  way.  I  find  that  out  again  and 
again.  And  so  you  are  taken  by  surprise.  The  people 
of  the  United  States  are  not  asking  anybody's  leave  to 
do  their  own  thinking,  and  are  not  asking  anybody  to  tip 


GREAT  SPEECHES  HI 

them  off  what  they  ought  to  think.  They  are  thinking  for 
themselves,  every  man  for  himself ;  and  you  do  not  know, 
and,  the  worst  of  it  is,  since  the  responsibility  is  mine,  I 
do  not  know  what  they  are  thinking  about.  I  have  the 
most  imperfect  means  of  finding  out,  and  yet  I  have  got 
to  act  as  if  I  knew.  That  is  the  burden  of  it,  and  I  tell 
you,  gentlemen,  it  is  a  pretty  serious  burden,  particularly 
if  you  look  upon  the  office  as  I  do — that  I  am  not  put  here 
to  do  what  I  please.  If  I  were,  it  would  have  been  very 
much  more  interesting  than  it  has  been.  I  am  put  here 
to  interpret,  to  register,  to  suggest,  and,  more  than  that, 
and  much  greater  than  that,  to  be  suggested  to. 

Now,  that  is  where  the  experience  that  I  forecast  has 
differed  from  the  experience  that  I  have  had.  In  do- 
mestic matters  I  think  I  can  in  most  cases  come  pretty 
near  a  guess  where  the  thought  of  America  is  going,  but 
in  foreign  affairs  the  chief  element  is  where  action  is 
going  on  in  other  quarters  of  the  world  and  not  where 
thought  is  going  in  the  United  States.  Therefore,  I  have 
several  times  taken  the  liberty  of  urging  upon  you  gen- 
tlemen not  yourselves  to  know  more  than  the  State  De- 
partment knows  about  foreign  affairs.  Some  of  you 
have  shown  a  singular  range  of  omniscience,  and  certain 
things  have  been  reported  as  understood  in  administra- 
tive circles  which  I  never. heard  of  until  I  read  the  news- 
papers. I  am  constantly  taken  by  surprise  in  regard 
to  decisions  which  are  said  to  be  my  own,  and  this  gives 
me  an  uncomfortable  feeling  that  some  providence  is  at 
work  with  which  I  have  had  no  communication  at  all. 
Now,  that  is  pretty  dangerous,  gentlemen,  because  it  hap- 
pens that  remarks  start  fires.  There  is  tinder  lying  every- 
where, not  only  on  the  other  side  of  the  water,  but  on  this 
side  of  the  water,  and  a  man  that  spreads  sparks  may 
be  responsible  for  something  a  great  deal  worse  than 


112  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

burning  a  town  on  the  Mexican  border.  Thoughts  may 
be  bandits.  Thoughts  may  be  raiders.  Thoughts  may 
be  invaders.  Thoughts  may  be  disturbers  of  interna- 
tional peace ;  and  when  you  reflect  upon  the  importance 
of  this  country  keeping  out  of  the  present  war,  you  will 
know  what  tremendous  elements  we  are  all  dealing  with. 
We  are  all  in  the  same  boat.  If  somebody  does  not  keep 
the  processes  of  peace  going,  if  somebody  does  not  keep 
their  passions  disengaged,  by  what  impartial  judgment 
and  suggestion  is  the  world  to  be  aided  to  a  solution  when 
the  whole  thing  is  over?  If  you  are  in  a  conference  in 
which  you  know  nobody  is  disinterested,  how  are  you 
going  to  make  a  plan?  I  tell  you  this,  gentlemen,  the 
only  thing  that  saves  the  world  is  the  little  handful  of 
disinterested  men  that  are  in  it. 

Now,  I  have  found  a  few  disinterested  men.  I  wish  I 
had  found  more.  I  can  name  two  or  three  men  with 
whom  I  have  conferred  again  and  again  and  again,  and 
I  have  never  caught  them  by  an  inadvertence  thinking 
about  themselves  for  their  own  interests,  and  I  tie  to 
those  men  as  you  would  tie  to  an  anchor.  I  tie  to  them 
as  you  would  tie  to  the  voices  of  conscience  if  you  could 
be  sure  that  you  always  heard  them.  Men  who  have  no 
axes  to  grind !  Men  who  love  America  so  that  they  would 
give  their  lives  for  it  and  never  care  whether  anybody 
heard  that  they  had  given  their  lives  for  it ;  willing  to  die 
in  obscurity  if  only  they  might  serve!  Those  are  the 
men,  and  nations  like  those  men  are  the  -nations  that  are 
going  to  serve  the  world  and  save  it.  There  never  was  a 
time  in  the  history  of  the  world  when  character,  just 
sheer  character  all  by  itself,  told  more  than  it  does  now. 
A  friend  of  mine  says  that  every  man  who  takes  office  in 
Washington  either  grows  or  swells,  and  when  I  give  a 
man  an  office,  I  watch  him  carefully  to  see  whether  he  is 


GREAT  SPEECHES  113 

swelling  or  growing.  The  mischief  of  it  is  that  when 
they  swell  they  do  not  swell  enough  to  burst.  If  they 
would  only  swell  to  the  point  where  you  might  insert  a 
pin  and  let  the  gases  out,  it  would  be  a  great  delight.  I 
do  not  know  any  pastime  that  would  be  more  diverting, 
except  that  the  gases  are  probably  poisonous,  so  that  we 
would  have  to  stand  from  under.  But  the  men  who 
grow,  the  men  who  think  better  a  year  after  they  are  put 
in  office  than  they  thought  when  they  were  put  in  office, 
are  the  balance  wheel  of  the  whole  thing.  They  are  the 
ballast  that  enables  the  craft  to  carry  sail  and  to  make 
port  in  the  long  run,  no  matter  what  the  weather  is. 

So  I  have  come  willing  to  make  this  narrative  of  experi- 
ence to  you.  I  have  come  through  the  fire  since  I  talked 
to  you  last.  Whether  the  metal  is  purer  than  it  was,  God 
only  knows ;  but  the  fire  has  been  there,  the  fire  has  pene- 
trated every  part  of  it,  and  if  I  may  believe  my  own 
thoughts  I  have  less  partisan  feeling,  more  impatience 
of  party  maneuver,  more  enthusiasm  for  the  right  thing, 
no  matter  whom  it  hurts,  than  I  ever  had  before  in  my 
life.  And  I  have  something  that  it  is  no  doubt  danger- 
ous to  have,  but  that  I  can  not  help  having.  I  have  a  pro- 
found intellectual  contempt  for  men  who  can  not  see  the 
signs  of  the  times.  I  have  to  deal  with  some  men  who 
know  no  more  of  the  modern  processes  of  politics  than  if 
they  were  living  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  for  them 
I  have  a  profound  and  comprehensive  intellectual  con- 
tempt. They  are  blind.  They  are  hopelessly  blind ;  and 
the  worst  of  it  is  I  have  to  spend  hours  of  my  time  talking 
to  them  when  I  know  before  I  start  as  much  as  after  I 
have  finished  that  it  is  absolutely  useless  to  talk  to  them. 
I  am  talking  in  vacuo. 

The  business  of  every  one  of  us,  gentlemen,  is  to  realize 
that  if  we  are  correspondents  of  papers  who  have  not  yet 


114  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

heard  of  modern  times  we  ought  to  send  them  as  many 
intimations  of  modern  movements  as  they  are  willing  to 
print.  There  is  a  simile  that  was  used  hy  a  very  inter- 
esting English  writer  that  has  been  much  in  my  mind. 
Like  myself,  he  had  often  been  urged  not  to  try  to  change 
so  many  things.  I  remember  when  I  was  president  of  a 
university  a  man  said  to  me,  ' '  Good  heavens,  man,  why 
don 't  you  leave  something  alone  and  let  it  stay  the  way 
it  is?"  And  I  said,  "If  you  will  guarantee  to  me  that 
it  will  stay  the  way  it  is  I  wrill  let  it  alone ;  but  if  you  knew 
anything  you  would  know  that  if  you  leave  a  live  thing 
alone  it  will  not  stay  where  it  is.  It  will  develop  and  will 
either  go  in  the  wrong  direction  or  decay. ' '  I  reminded 
him  of  this  thing  that  the  English  writer  said,  that  if 
you  want  to  keep  a  white  post  white  you  can  not  let  it 
alone.  It  will  get  black.  You  have  to  keep  doing  some- 
thing to  it.  In  that  instance  you  have  got  to  keep  paint- 
ing it  white,  and  you  have  got  to  paint  it  white  very 
frequently  in  order  to  keep  it  white,  because  there  are 
forces  at  work  that  will  get  the  better  of  you.  Not  only 
will  it  turn  black,  but  the  forces  of  moisture  and  the  other 
forces  of  nature  will  penetrate  the  white  paint  and  get 
at  the  fiber  of  the  wood,  and  decay  will  set  in,  and  the 
next  time  you  try  to  paint  it  you  will  find  that  there  is 
nothing  but  punk  to  paint.  Then  you  will  remember 
the  Red  Queen  in  "Alice  in  "Wonderland,"  or  "Alice 
Through  the  Looking  Glass" — I  forget  which,  it  has  been 
so  long  since  I  read  them — who  takes  Alice  by  the  hand 
and  they  rush  along  at  a  great  pace,  and  then  when  they 
stop  Alice  looks  around  and  says,  ' '  But  we  are  just  where 
we  were  when  we  started. "  "  Yes, ' '  says  the  Red  Queen, 
"you  have  to  run  twice  as  fast  as  that  to  get  anywhere 
else." 

That  is  also  true,  gentlemen,  of  the  world  and  of  affairs. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  115 

You  have  got  to  run  fast  merely  to  stay  where  you  are, 
and  in  order  to  get  anywhere,  you  have  got  to  run  twice 
as  fast  as  that.  That  is  what  people  do  not  realize.  That 
is  the  mischief  of  these  hopeless  dams  against  the  stream, 
known  as  reactionaries  and  standpatters,  and  other  words 
of  obloquy.  That  is  what  is  the  matter  with  them ;  they 
are  not  even  staying  where  they  were.  They  are  sinking 
further  and  further  back  in  what  will  sometime  com- 
fortably close  over  their  heads  as  the  black  waters  of 
oblivion.  I  sometimes  imagine  that  I  see  their  heads 
going  down,  and  I  am  not  inclined  even  to  throw  them 
a  life  preserver.  The  sooner  they  disappear,  the  better. 
We  need  their  places  for  people  who  are  awake ;  and  we 
particularly  need  now,  gentlemen,  men  who  will  divest 
themselves  of  party  passion  and  of  personal  preference 
and  will  try  to  think  in  the  terms  of  America.  If  a  man 
describes  himself  to  me  now  in  any  other  terms  than 
those  terms,  I  am  not  sure  of  him ;  and  I  love  the  fellows 
that  come  into  my  office  sometimes  and  say,  ' '  Mr.  Presi- 
dent, I  am  an  American. ' '  Their  hearts  are  right,  their 
instinct  true,  they  are  going  in  the  right  direction,  and 
will  take  the  right  leadership  if  they  believe  that  the 
leader  is  also  a  man  who  thinks  first  of  America. 

You  will  see,  gentlemen,  that  I  did  not  premeditate 
these  remarks,  or  they  would  have  had  some  connection 
with  each  other.  They  would  have  had  some  plan.  I 
have  merely  given  myself  the  pleasure  of  telling  you 
what  has  really  been  in  my  heart,  and  not  only  has  been 
in  my  heart  but  is  in  my  heart  every  day  of  the  week.  If 
I  did  not  go  off  at  week  ends  occasionally  and  throw  off, 
as  much  as  it  is  possible  to  throw  off,  this  burden,  I  could 
not  stand  it.  This  week  I  went  down  the  Potomac  and 
up  the  James  and  substituted  history  for  politics,  and 
there  was  an  infinite,  sweet  calm  in  some  of  those  old 


116  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

places  that  reminded  me  of  the  records  that  were  made 
in  the  days  that  are  past ;  and  I  comforted  myself  with 
the  recollection  that  the  men  we  remember  are  the  disin- 
terested men  who  gave  us  the  deeds  that  have  covered 
the  name  of  America  all  over  with  the  luster  of  imperish- 
able glory. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  117 

ADDRESS  TO  THE  LEAGUE 
TO  ENFORCE  PEACE 

Washington,  May  27,  1916 

"When  the  invitation  to  be  here  tonight  came  to  me,  I 
was  glad  to  accept  it, — not  because  it  offered  me  an 
opportunity  to  discuss  the  programme  of  the  League, — 
that  you  will,  I  am  sure,  not  expect  of  me, — but  because 
the  desire  of  the  whole  world  now  turns  eagerly,  more 
and  more  eagerly,  toward  the  hope  of  peace,  and  there 
is  just  reason  why  we  should  take  our  part  in  counsel 
upon  this  great  theme.  It  is  right  that  I,  as  spokesman 
of  our  Government,  should  attempt  to  give  expression 
to  what  I  believe  to  be  the  thought  and  purpose  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  in  this  vital  matter.  . 

This  great  war  that  broke  so  suddenly  upon  the  world 
two  years  ago,  and  which  has  swept  within  its  flame  so 
great  a  part  of  the  civilized  world,  has  affected  us  very 
profoundly,  and  we  are  not  only  at  liberty,  it  is  perhaps 
our  duty,  to  speak  very  frankly  of  it  and  of  the  great 
interests  of  civilization  which  it  affects. 

With  its  causes  and  its  objects  we  are  not  concerned. 
The  obscure  fountains  from  which  its  stupendous  flood 
has  burst  forth  we  are  not  interested  to  search  for  or 
explore.  But  so  great  a  flood,  spread  far  and  wide  to 
every  quarter  of  the  globe,  has  of  necessity  engulfed 
many  a  fair  province  of  right  that  lies  very  near  to  us. 
Our  own  rights  as  a  Nation,  the  liberties,  the  privileges, 
and  the  property  of  our  people  have  been  profoundly 
affected.  We  are  not  mere  disconnected  lookers-on. 
The  longer  the  war  lasts,  the  more  deeply  do  we  become 
concerned  that  it  should  be  brought  to  an  end  and  the 
world  be  permitted  to  resume  its  normal  life  and  course 


118  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

again.  And  when  it  does  come  to  an  end  we  shall  be 
as  much  concerned  as  the  nations  at  war  to  see  peace 
assume  an  aspect  of  permanence,  give  promise  of  days 
from  which  the  anxiety  of  uncertainty  shall  be  lifted, 
bring  some  assurance  that  peace  and  war  shall  always 
hereafter  be  reckoned  part  of  the  common  interest  of 
mankind.  We  are  participants,  whether  we  would  or 
not,  in  the  life  of  the  world.  The  interests  of  all  nations 
are  our  own  also.  We  are  partners  with  the  rest. 
What  affects  mankind  is  inevitably  our  affair  as  well 
as  the  affair  of  the  nations  of  Europe  and  of  Asia. 

One  observation  on  the  causes  of  the  present  war  we 
are  at  liberty  to  make,  and  to  make  it  may  throw  some 
light  forward  upon  the  future,  as  well  as  backward 
upon  the  past.  It  is  plain  that  this  war  could  have 
come  only  as  it  did,  suddenly  and  out  of  secret  counsels, 
without  warning  to  the  world,  without  discussion,  with- 
out any  of  the  deliberate  movements  of  counsel  with 
which  it  would  seem  natural  to  approach  so  stupendous 
a  contest.  It  is  probable  that  if  it  had  been  foreseen 
just  what  would  happen,  just  what  alliances  would  be 
formed,  just  what  forces  arrayed  against  one  another, 
those  who  brought  the  great  contest  on  would  have  been 
glad  to  substitute  conference  for  force.  If  we  ourselves 
had  been  afforded  some  opportunity  to  apprise  the 
belligerents  of  the  attitude  which  it  would  be  our  duty 
to  take,  of  the  policies  and  practices  against  which  we 
would  feel  bound  to  use  all  our  moral  and  economic 
strength,  and  in  certain  circumstances  even  our  physical 
strength  also,  our  own  contribution  to  the  counsel  which 
might  have  averted  the  struggle  would  have  been  con- 
sidered worth  weighing  and  regarding. 

And  the  lesson  which  the  shock  of  being  taken  by 
surprise  in  a  matter  so  deeply  vital  to  all  the  nations  of 


GREAT  SPEECHES  119 

the  world  has  made  poignantly  clear  is,  that  the  peace  of 
the  world  must  henceforth  depend  upon  a  new  and  more 
wholesome  diplomacy.  Only  when  the  great  nations 
of  the  world  have  reached  some  sort  of  agreement  as  to 
what  they  hold  to  be  fundamental  to  their  common 
interest,  and  as  to  some  feasible  method  of  acting  in 
concert  when  any  nation  or  group  of  nations  seeks  to 
disturb  those  fundamental  things,  can  we  feel  that 
civilization  is  at  last  in  a  way  of  justifying  its  existence 
and  claiming  to  be  finally  established.  It  is  clear  that 
nations  must  in  the  future  be  governed  by  the  same 
high  code  of  honor  that  we  demand  of  individuals. 

We  must,  indeed,  in  the  very  same  breath  with  which 
we  avow  this  conviction,  admit  that  we  have  ourselves 
upon  occasion  in  the  past  been  offenders  against  the  law 
of  diplomacy  which  we  thus  forecast ;  but  our  conviction 
is  not  the  less  clear,  but  rather  the  more  clear,  on  that 
account.  If  this  war  has  accomplished  nothing  else  for 
the  benefit  of  the  world,  it  has  at  least  disclosed  a  great 
moral  necessity  and  set  forward  the  thinking  of  the  states- 
men of  the  world  by  a  whole  age.  Repeated  utterances 
of  the  leading  statesmen  of  most  of  the  great  nations  now 
engaged  in  war  have  made  it  plain  that  their  thought  has 
come  to  this,  that  the  principle  of  public  right  must 
henceforth  take  precedence  over  the  individual  interests 
of  particular  nations,  and  that  the  nations  of  the  world 
must  in  some  way  band  themselves  together  to  see  that 
that  right  prevails  as  against  any  sort  of  selfish  aggres- 
sion ;  that  henceforth  alliance  must  not  be  set  up  against 
alliance,  understanding  against  understanding,  but  that 
there  must  be  a  common  agreement  for  a  common  object, 
and  that  at  the  heart  of  that  common  object  must  lie  the 
inviolable  rights  of  peoples  and  of  mankind.  The  na- 
tions of  the  world  have  become  each  other's  neighbors. 


120  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

It  is  to  their  interest  that  they  should  understand  each 
other.  In  order  that  they  may  understand  each  other,  it 
is  imperative  that  they  should  agree  to  cooperate  in  a 
common  cause,  and  that  they  should  so  act  that  the  guid- 
ing principle  of  that  common  cause  shall  be  even-handed 
and  impartial  justice. 

This  is  undoubtedly  the  thought  of  America.  This  is 
what  we  ourselves  will  say  when  there  comes  proper  occa- 
sion to  say  it.  In  the  dealings  of  nations  with  one  an- 
other arbitrary  force  must  be  rejected  and  we  must  move 
forward  to  the  thought  of  the  modern  world,  the  thought  of 
which  peace  is  the  very  atmosphere.  That  thought  consti- 
tutes a  chief  part  of  the  passionate  conviction  of  America. 

"We  believe  these  fundamental  things :  First,  that  every 
people  has  aright  to  choose  the  sovereignty  under  which 
they  shall  live.  Like  other  nations,  we  have  ourselves 
no  doubt  once  and  again  offended  against  that  principle 
when  for  a  little  while  controlled  by  selfish  passion,  as  our 
franker  historians  have  been  honorable  enough  to  admit ; 
but  it  has  become  more  and  more  our  rule  of  life  and 
action.  Second,  that  the  small  states  of  the  world  have 
a  right  to  enjoy  the  same  respect  for  their  sovereignty  and 
for  their  territorial  integrity  that  great  and  powerful 
nations  expect  and  insist  upon.  And,  third,  that  the 
world  has  a  right  to  be  free  from  every  disturbance  of 
its  peace  that  has  its  origin  in  aggression  and  disregard 
of  the  rights  of  peoples  and  nations. 

So  sincerely  do  we  believe  in  these  things  that  I  am 
sure  that  I  speak  the  mind  and  wish  of  the  people  of 
America  when  I  say  that  the  United  States  is  willing  to 
become  a  partner  in  any  feasible  association  of  nations 
formed  in  order  to  realize  these  objects  and  make  them 
secure  against  violation. 

There  is  nothing  that  the  United  States  wants  for 


GREAT  SPEECHES  121 

itself  that  any  other  nation  has.  We  are  willing,  on  the 
contrary,  to  limit  ourselves  along  with  them  to  a  pre- 
scribed course  of  duty  and  respect  for  the  rights  of  others 
which  will  cheek  any  selfish  passion  of  our  own,  as  it  will 
check  any  aggressive  impulse  of  theirs. 

If  it  should  ever  be  our  privilege  to  suggest  or  initiate 
a  movement  for  peace  among  the  nations  now  at  war,  I  am 
sure  that  the  people  of  the  United  States  would  wish  their 
Government  to  move  along  these  lines:  First,  such  a 
settlement  with  regard  to  their  own  immediate  interests 
as  the  belligerents  may  agree  upon.  "We  have  nothing 
material  of  any  kind  to  ask  for  ourselves,  and  are  quite 
aware  that  we  are  in  no  sense  or  degree  parties  to  the 
present  quarrel.  Our  interest  is  only  in  peace  and  its 
future  guarantees.  Second,  an  universal  association  of 
the  nations  to  maintain  the  inviolate  security  of  the  high- 
way of  the  seas  for  the  common  and  unhindered  use  of 
all  the  nations  of  the  world,  and  to  prevent  any  war  begun 
either  contrary  to  treaty  covenants  or  without  warning 
and  full  submission  of  the  causes  to  the  opinion  of  the 
world — a  virtual  guarantee  of  territorial  integrity  and 
political  independence. 

But  I  did  not  come  here,  let  me  repeat,  to  discuss  a 
programme.  I  came  only  to  avow  a  creed  and  give  ex- 
pression to  the  confidence  I  feel  that  the  world  is  even 
now  upon  the  eve  of  a  great  consummation,  when  some 
common  force  will  be  brought  into  existence  which  shall 
safeguard  right  as  the  first  and  most  fundamental  inter- 
est of  all  peoples  and  all  governments,  when  coercion 
shall  be  summoned  not  to  the  service  of  political  ambition 
or  selfish  hostility,  but  to  the  service  of  a  common  order, 
a  common  justice,  and  a  common  peace.  God  grant  that 
the  dawn  of  that  day  of  frank  dealing  and  of  settled  peace, 
concord,  and  cooperation  may  be  near  at  hand! 


122  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ON  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  BIRTHPLACE 

Mr.  Wilson's  Address  on  the  Acceptance  by  the  War 

Department  of  a  Deed  of  Gift  to  the  Nation  of  the 

Lincoln  Farm  at  Hodg-enville,  Kentucky, 

September  4,  1916 

No  more  significant  memorial  could  have  been  pre- 
sented to  the  nation  than  this.  It  expresses  so  much  of 
what  is  singular  and  noteworthy  in  the  history  of  the 
country ;  it  suggests  so  many  of  the  things  that  we  prize 
most  highly  in  our  life  and  in  our  system  of  government. 
How  eloquent  this  little  house  within  this  shrine  is  of 
the  vigor  of  democracy!  There  is  nowhere  in  the  land 
any  home  so  remote,  so  humble,  that  it  may  not  contain 
the  power  of  mind  and  heart  and  conscience  to  which 
nations  yield  and  history  submits  its  processes.  Nature 
pays  no  tribute  to  aristocracy,  subscribes  to  no  creed  of 
caste,  renders  fealty  to  no  monarch  or  master  of  any 
name  or  kind.  Genius  is  no  snob.  It  does  not  run  after 
titles  or  seek  by  preference  the  high  circles  of  society. 
It  affects  humble  company  as  well  as  great.  It  pays  no 
special  tribute  to  universities  or  learned  societies  or  con- 
ventional standards  of  greatness,  but  serenely  chooses  its 
own  comrades,  its  own  haunts,  its'  own  cradle  even,  and 
its  own  life  of  adventure  and  of  training.  Here  is  proof 
of  it.  This  little  hut  was  the  cradle  of  one  of  the  great 
sons  of  men,  a  man  of  singular,  delightful,  vital  genius 
who  presently  emerged  upon  the  great  stage  of  the  na- 
tion's history,  gaunt,  shy,  ungainly,  but  dominant  and 
majestic,  a  natural  ruler  of  men,  himself  inevitably  the 
central  figure  of  the  great  plot.  No  man  can  explain 
this,  but  every  man  can  see  how  it  demonstrates  the  vigor 
of  democracy,  where  every  door  is  open,  in  every  hamlet 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  123 

and  countryside,  in  city  and  wilderness  alike,  for  the  ruler 
to  emerge  when  he  will  and  claim  his  leadership  in  the 
free  life.  Such  are  the  authentic  proofs  of  the  validity 
and  vitality  of  democracy. 

Here,  no  less,  hides  the  mystery  of  democracy.  Who 
shall  guess  this  secret  of  nature  and  providence  and  a 
free  polity?  Whatever  the  vigor  and  vitality  of  the 
stock  from  which  he  sprang,  its  mere  vigor  and  sound- 
ness do  not  explain  where  this  man  got  his  great  heart 
that  seemed  to  comprehend  all  mankind  in  its  catholic 
and  benignant  sympathy,  the  mind  that  sat  enthroned 
behind  those  brooding,  melancholy  eyes,  whose  vision 
swept  many  an  horizon  which  those  about  him  dreamed 
not  of — that  mind  that  comprehended  what  it  had  never 
seen,  and  understood  the  language  of  affairs  with  the 
ready  ease  of  one  to  the  manner  born — or  that  nature 
which  seemed  in  its  varied  richness  to  be  the  familiar  of 
men  of  every  way  of  life.  This  is  the  sacred  mystery  of 
democracy,  that  its  richest  fruits  spring  up  out  of  soils 
which  no  man  has  prepared  and  in  circumstances  amidst 
which  they  are  the  least  expected.  This  is  a  place  alike 
of  mystery  and  of  reassurance. 

It  is  likely  that  in  a  society  ordered  otherwise  than  our 
own,  Lincoln  could  not  have  found  himself  or  the  path  of 
fame  and  power  upon  which  he  walked  serenely  to  his 
death.  In  this  place  it  is  right  that  we  should  remind 
ourselves  of  the  solid  and  striking  facts  upon  which  our 
faith  in  democracy  is  founded.  Many  another  man  be- 
sides Lincoln  has  served  the  nation  in  its  highest  places 
of  counsel  and  of  action  whose  origins  were  as  humble  as 
his.  Though  the  greatest  example  of  the  universal  energy, 
richness,  stimulation,  and  force  of  democracy,  he  is  only 
one  example  among  many.  The  permeating  and  all-per- 
vasive virtue  of  the  freedom  which  challenges  us  in  Amer- 


124  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ica  to  make  the  most  of  every  gift  and  power  we  possess, 
every  page  of  our  history  serves  to  emphasize  and  illus- 
trate. Standing  here  in  this  place,  it  seems  almost  the 
whole  of  the  stirring  story. 

Here  Lincoln  had  his  beginnings.  Here  the  end  and 
consummation  of  that  great  life  seem  remote  and  a  bit 
incredible.  And  yet  there  was  no  break  anywhere  be- 
tween beginning  and  end,  no  lack  of  natural  sequence 
anywhere.  Nothing  really  incredible  happened.  Lin- 
coln was  unaffectedly  as  much  at  home  in  the  White 
House  as  he  was  here.  Do  you  share  with  me  the  feeling, 
I  wonder,  that  he  was  permanently  at  home  nowhere? 
It  seems  to  me  that  in  the  case  of  a  man — I  would  rather 
say  of  a  spirit — like  Lincoln  the  question  where  he  was  is 
of  little  significance,  that  it  is  always  ivhat  he  was  that 
really  arrests  our  thought  and  takes  hold  of  our  imagi- 
nation. It  is  the  spirit  always  that  is  sovereign.  Lin- 
coln, like  the  rest  of  us,  was  put  through  the  discipline 
of  the  world — a  very  rough  and  exacting  discipline  for 
him,  an  indispensable  discipline  for  every  man  who  would 
know  what  he  is  about  in  the  midst  of  the  world's  affairs ; 
but  his  spirit  got  only  its  schooling  there.  It  did  not 
derive  its  character  or  its  vision  from  the  experiences 
which  brought  it  to  its  full  revelation.  The  test  of  every 
American  must  always  be,  not  where  he  is,  but  what  he  is. 
That,  also,  is  of  the  essence  of  democracy,  and  is  the 
moral  of  which  this  place  is  most  gravely  expressive. 

We  would  like  to  think  of  men  like  Lincoln  and  Wash- 
ington as  typical  Americans,  but  no  man  can  be  typical 
who  is  so  unusual  as  these  great  men  were.  It  was  typ- 
ical of  American  life  that  it  should  produce  such  men 
with  supreme  indifference  as  to  the  manner  in  which  it 
produced  them,  and  as  readily  here  in  this  hut  as  amidst 
the  little  circle  of  cultivated  gentlemen  to  whom  Virginia 


GREAT  SPEECHES  125 

owed  so  much  in  leadership  and  example.  And  Lincoln 
and  Washington  were  typical  Americans  in  the  use  they 
made  of  their  genius.  But  there  will  be  few  such  men  at 
best,  and  we  will  not  look  into  the  mystery  of  how  and 
why  they  come.  We  will  only  keep  the  door  open  for 
them  always,  and  a  hearty  welcome — after  we  have  rec- 
ognized them. 

I  have  read  many  biographies  of  Lincoln ;  I  have  sought 
out  with  the  greatest  interest  the  many  intimate  stories 
that  are  told  of  him,  the  narratives  of  nearby  friends,  the 
sketches  at  close  quarters,  in  which  those  who  had  the 
privilege  of  being  associated  with  him  have  tried  to  depict 
for  us  the  very  man  himself  ' '  in  his  habit  as  he  lived ' ' ; 
but  I  have  nowhere  found  a  real  intimate  of  Lincoln's. 
I  nowhere  get  the  impression  in  any  narrative  or  remi- 
niscence that  the  writer  had  in  fact  penetrated  to  the 
heart  of  his  mystery,  or  that  any  man  could  penetrate  to 
the  heart  of  it.  That  brooding  spirit  had  no  real  famil- 
iars. I  get  the  impression  that  it  never  spoke  out  in 
complete  self-revelation,  and  that  it  could  not  reveal 
itself  completely  to  anyone.  It  was  a  very  lonely  spirit 
that  looked  out  from  underneath  those  shaggy  brows  and 
comprehended  men  without  fully  communing  with  them, 
as  if,  in  spite  of  all  its  genial  efforts  at  comradeship,  it 
dwelt  apart,  saw  its  visions  of  duty  where  no  man  looked 
on.  There  is  a  very  holy  and  very  terrible  isolation  for 
the  conscience  of  every  man  who  seeks  to  read  the' destiny 
in  affairs  for  others  as  well  as  for  himself,  for  a  nation 
as  well  as  for  individuals.  That  privacy  no  man  can 
intrude  upon.  That  lonely  search  of  the  spirit  for  the 
right  perhaps  no  man  can  assist.  This  strange  child  of 
the  cabin  kept  company  with  invisible  things,  was  born 
into  no  intimacy  but  that  of  its  own  silently  assembling 
and  deploying  thoughts. 


126  PKESIDENT  WILSON'S 

I  have  come  here  today,  not  to  utter  a  eulogy  on  Lin- 
coln ;  he  stands  in  need  of  none,  but  to  endeavor  to  inter- 
pret the  meaning  of  this  gift  to  the  nation  of  the  place 
of  his  birth  and  origin.  Is  not  this  an  altar  upon  which 
we  may  forever  keep  alive  the  vestal  fire  of  democracy 
as  upon  a  shrine  at  which  some  of  the  deepest  and  most 
sacred  hopes  of  mankind  may  from  age  to  age  be  rekin- 
dled? For  these  hopes  must  constantly  be  rekindled, 
and  only  those  who  live  can  rekindle  them.  The  only 
stuff  that  can  retain  the  life-giving  heat  is  the  stuff  of 
living  hearts.  And  the  hopes  of  mankind  cannot  be 
kept  alive  by  words  merely,  by  constitutions  and  doc- 
trines of  right  and  codes  of  liberty.  The  object  of  de- 
mocracy is  to  transmute  these  into  the  life  and  action  of 
society,  the  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice  of  heroic  men 
and  women  willing  to  make  their  lives  an  embodiment  of 
right  and  service  and  enlightened  purpose.  The  com- 
mands of  democracy  are  as  imperative  as  its  privileges 
and  opportunities  are  wide  and  generous.  Its  compul- 
sion is  upon  us.  It  will  be  great  and  lift  a  great  light 
for  the  guidance  of  the  nations  only  if  we  are  great  and 
carry  that  light  high  for  the  guidance  of  our  own  feet. 
We  are  not  worthy  to  stand  here  unless  we  ourselves  be 
in  deed  and  in  truth  real  democrats  and  servants  of  man- 
kind, ready  to  give  our  very  lives  for  the  freedom  and 
justice  and  spiritual  exaltation  of  the  great  nation  which 
shelters  and  nurtures  us. 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  127 

PREVENTING  A  GREAT  RAILROAD 
STRIKE 

Address  of  the  President  to  Congress  on  the  Threatening 
Situation,  August  29, 1916 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONGRESS: 

I  have  come  to  you  to  seek  your  assistance  in  dealing 
with  a  very  grave  situation  which  has  arisen  out  of  the 
demand  of  the  employees  of  the  railroads  engaged  in 
freight  train  service  that  they  be  granted  an  eight-hour 
working  day,  safeguarded  by  payment  for  an  hour  and  a 
half  of  service  for  every  hour  of  work  beyond  the  eight. 

The  matter  has  been  agitated  for  more  than  a  year. 
The  public  has  been  made  familiar  with  the  demands  of 
the  men  and  the  arguments  urged  in  favor  of  them,  and 
even  more  familiar  with  the  objections  of  the  railroads 
and  their  counter  demand  that  certain  privileges  now 
enjoyed  by  their  men  and  certain  bases  of  payment 
worked  out  through  many  years  of  contest  be  reconsid- 
ered, especially  in  their  relation  to  the  adoption  of  an 
eight-hour  day.  The  matter  came  some  three  weeks  ago 
to  a  final  issue  and  resulted  in  a  complete  deadlock  be- 
tween the  parties.  The  means  provided  by  law  for  the 
mediation  of  the  controversy  failed  and  the  means  of 
arbitration  for  which  the  law  provides  were  rejected. 
The  representatives  of  the  railway  executives  proposed 
that  the  demands  of  the  men  be  submitted  in  their  en- 
tirety to  arbitration,  along  with  certain  questions  of  re- 
adjustment as  to  pay  and  conditions  of  employment  which 
seemed  to  them  to  be  either  closely  associated  with  the 
demands  or  to  call  for  reconsideration  on  their  own 
merits;  the  men  absolutely  declined  arbitration,  espe- 
cially if  any  of  their  established  privileges  were  by  that 


128  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

means  to  be  drawn  again  in  question.  The  law  in  the 
matter  put  no  compulsion  upon  them.  The  four  hun- 
dred thousand  men  from  whom  the  demands  proceeded 
had  voted  to  strike  if  their  demands  were  refused ;  the 
strike  was  imminent ;  it  has  since  been  set  for  the  fourth 
of  September  next.  It  affects  the  men  who  man  the 
freight  trains  on  practically  every  railway  in  the  coun- 
try. The  freight  service  throughout  the  United  States 
must  stand  still  until  their  places  are  filled,  if,  indeed,  it 
should  prove  possible  to  fill  them  at  all.  Cities  will  be 
cut  off  from  their  food  supplies,  the  whole  commerce  of 
the  nation  will  be  paralyzed,  men  of  every  sort  and  occu- 
pation will  be  thrown  out  of  employment,  countless  thou- 
sands will  in  all  likelihood  be  brought,  it  may  be,  to  the 
very  point  of  starvation,  and  a  tragical  national  calamity 
brought  on,  to  be  added  to  the  other  distresses  of  the 
time,  because  no  basis  of  accommodation  or  settlement 
has  been  found. 

Just  so  soon-as  it  became  evident  that  mediation  under 
the  existing  law  had  failed  and  that  arbitration  had  been 
rendered  impossible  by  the  attitude  of  the  men,  I  consid- 
ered it  my  duty  to  confer  with  the  representatives  of  both 
the  railways  and  the  brotherhoods,  and  myself  offer  me- 
diation, not  as  an  arbitrator,  but  merely  as  spokesman 
of  the  nation,  in  the  interest  of  justice,  indeed,  and  as  a 
friend  of  both  parties,  but  not  as  judge,  only  as  the  rep- 
resentative of  one  hundred  millions  of  men,  women,  and 
children  who  would  pay  the  price,  the  incalculable  price, 
of  loss  and  suffering  should  these  few  men  insist  upon 
approaching  and  concluding  the  matters  in  controversy 
between  them  merely  as  employers  and  employees,  rather 
than  as  patriotic  citizens  of  the  United  States  looking 
before  and  after  and  accepting  the  larger  responsibility 
which  the  public  would  put  upon  them. 


GREAT  SPKECH.US  129 

It  seemed  to  me,  in  considering  the  subject-matter  of 
the  controversy,  that  the  whole  spirit  of  the  time  and  the 
preponderant  evidence  of  recent  economic  experience 
spoke  for  the  eight-hour  day.  It  has  been  adjudged  by 
the  thought  and  experience  of  recent  years  a  thing  upon 
which  society  is  justified  in  insisting  as  in  the  interest  of 
health,  efficiency,  contentment,  and  a  general  increase  of 
economic  vigor.  The  whole  presumption  of  modern  ex- 
perience would,  it  seemed  to  me,  be  in  its  favor,  whether 
there  was  arbitration  or  not,  and  the  debatable  points  to 
settle  were  those  which  arose  out  of  the  acceptance  of 
the  eight-hour  day  rather  than  those  which  affected  its 
establishment.  I,  therefore,  proposed  that  the  eight-hour 
day  be  adopted  by  the  railway  managements  and  put  into 
practice  for  the  present  as  a  substitute  for  the  existing 
ten-hour  basis  of  pay  and  service ;  that  I  should  appoint, 
with  the  permission  of  the  Congress,  a  small  commission 
to  observe  the  results  of  the  change,  carefully  studying 
the  figures  of  the  altered  operating  costs,  not  only,  but 
also  the  conditions  of  labor  under  which  the  men  worked 
and  the  operation  of  their  existing  agreements  with  the 
railroads,  with  instructions  to  report  the  facts  as  they 
found  them  to  the  Congress  at  the  earliest  possible  day, 
but  without  recommendation;  and  that,  after  the  facts 
had  been  thus  disclosed,  an  adjustment  should  in  some 
orderly  manner  be  sought  of  all  the  matters  now  left 
unadjusted  between  the  railroad  managers  and  the  men. 

These  proposals  were  exactly  in  line,  it  is  interesting 
to  note,  with  the  position  taken  by  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  when  appealed  to  to  protect  certain 
litigants  from  the  financial  losses  which  they  confidently 
expected  if  they  should  submit  to  the  regulation  of  their 
charges  and  of  their  methods  of  service  by  public  legis- 
lation. The  Court  has  held  that  it  would  not  undertake 


130  PSESIDENT  WILSON'S 

to  form  a  judgment  upon  forecasts,  but  could  base  its 
action  only  upon  actual  experience ;  that  it  must  be  sup- 
plied with  facts,  not  with  calculations  and  opinions,  how- 
ever scientifically  attempted.  To  undertake  to  arbitrate 
the  question  of  tEe  adoption  of  an  eight-hour  day  in  the 
light  of  results  merely  estimated  and  predicted  would  be 
to  undertake  an  enterprise  of  conjecture.  No  wise  man 
could  undertake  it,  or,  if  he  did  undertake  it.  could  feel 
assured  of  his  conclusions. 

I  unhesitatingly  offered  the  friendly  services  of  the 
administration  to  the  railway  managers  to  see  to  it  that 
justice  was  done  the  railroads  in  the  outcome.  I  felt 
warranted  in  assuring  them  that  no  obstacle  of  law  would 
be  suffered  to  stand  in  the  way  of  their  increasing  their 
revenues  to  meet  the  expenses  resulting  from  the  change 
so  far  as  the  development  of  their  business  and  of  their 
administrative  efficiency  did  not  prove  adequate  to  meet 
them.  The  public  and  the  representatives  of  the  public, 
I  felt  justified  in  assuring  them,  were  disposed  to  nothing 
but  justice  in  such  cases  and  were  willing  to  serve  those 
who  served  them. 

The  representatives  of  the  brotherhoods  accepted  the 
plan ;  but  the  representatives  of  the  railroads  declined  to 
accept  it.  In  the  face  of  what  I  cannot  but  regard  as  the 
practical  certainty  that  they  will  be  ultimately  obliged 
to  accept  the  eight-hour  day  by  the  concerted  action  of 
organized  labor,  backed  by  the  favorable  judgment  of 
society,  the  representatives  of  the  railway  management 
have  felt  justified  in  declining  a  peaceful  settlement  which 
would  engage  all  the  forces  of  justice,  public  and  private, 
on  their  side  to  take  care  of  the  event.  They  fear  the 
hostile  influence  of  shippers,  who  would  be  opposed  to  an 
increase  of  freight  rates  (for  which,  however,  of  course, 


GREAT  SPEECHES  131 

the  public  itself  would  pay) ;  they  apparently  feel  no 
confidence  that  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
could  withstand  the  objections  that  would  be  made.  They 
do  not  care  to  rely  upon  the  friendly  assurances  of  the 
Congress  or  the  President.  They  have  thought  it  best 
that  they  should  be  forced  to  yield,  if  they  must  yield, 
not  by  counsel,  but  by  the  suffering  of  the  country.  While 
my  conferences  with  them  were  in  progress,  and  when 
to  all  outward  appearance  those  conferences  had  come  to 
a  standstill,  the  representatives  of  the  brotherhoods  sud- 
denly acted  and  set  the  strike  for  the  fourth  of  September. 
The  railway  managers  based  their  decision  to  reject  my 
counsel  in  this  matter  upon  their  conviction  that  they 
must  at  any  cost  to  themselves  or  to  the  country  stand 
firm  for  the  principle  of  arbitration  which  the  men  had 
rejected.  I  based  my  counsel  upon  the  indisputable  fact 
that  there  was  no  means  of  obtaining  arbitration.  The 
law  supplied  none ;  earnest  efforts  at  mediation  had  failed 
to  influence  the  men  in  the  least.  To  stand  firm  for  the 
principle  of  arbitration  and  yet  not  get  arbitration 
seemed  to  me  futile,  and  something  more  than  futile,  be- 
cause it  involved  incalculable  distress  to  the  country  and 
consequences  in  some  respects  worse  than  those  of  war, 
and  that  in  the  midst  of  peace. 

I  yield  to  no  man  in  firm  adherence,  alike  of  conviction 
and  of  purpose,  to  the  principle  of  arbitration  in  indus- 
trial disputes ;  but  matters  have  come  to  a  sudden  crisis 
in  this  particular  dispute  and  the  country  had  been  caught 
unprovided  with  any  practicable  means  of  enforcing  that 
conviction  in  practice  (by  whose  fault  we  will  not  now 
stop  to  inquire).  A  situation  had  to  be  met  whose  ele- 
ments and  fixed  conditions  were  indisputable.  The  prac- 
tical and  patriotic  course  to  pursue,  as  it  seemed  to  me, 


132  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

was  to  secure  immediate  peace  by  conceding  the  one  thing 
in  the  demands  of  the  men  which  society  itself  and  any 
arbitrators  who  represented  public  sentiment  were  most 
likely  to  approve,  and  immediately  lay  the  foundations 
for  securing  arbitration  with  regard  to  everything  else 
involved.  The  event  has  confirmed  that  judgment. 

I  was  seeking  to  compose  the  present  in  order  to  safe- 
guard the  future;  for  I  wished  an  atmosphere  of  peace 
and  friendly  cooperation  in  which  to  take  counsel  with 
the  representatives  of  the  nation  with  regard  to  the  best 
means  for  providing,  so  far  as  it  might  prove  possible  to 
provide,  against  the  recurrence  of  such  unhappy  situa- 
tions in  the  future — the  best  and  most  practicable  means 
of  securing  calm  and  fair  arbitration  of  all  industrial 
disputes  in  the  days  to  come.  This  is  assuredly  the  best 
way  of  vindicating  a  principle,  namely,  having  failed  to 
make  certain  of  its  observance  in  the  present,  to  make 
certain  of  its  observance  in  the  future. 

But  I  could  only  propose.  I  could  not  govern  the  will 
of  others  who  took  an  entirely  different  view  of  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  who  even  refused  to  admit  the 
circumstances  to  be  what  they  have  turned  out  to  be. 

Having  failed  to  bring  the  parties  to  this  critical  con- 
troversy to  an  accommodation,  therefore,  I  turn  to  you, 
deeming  it  clearly  our  duty  as  public  servants  to  leave 
nothing  undone  that  we  can  do  to  safeguard  the  life  and 
interests  of  the  nation.  In  the  spirit  of  such  a  purpose, 
I  earnestly  recommend  the  following  legislation : 

First,  immediate  provision  for  the  enlargement  and 
administrative  reorganization  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  along  the  lines  embodied  in  the  bill  recently 
passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives  and  now  await- 
ing action  by  the  Senate ;  in  order  that  the  Commission 


GREAT  SPEECHES  133 

may  be  enabled  to  deal  with  the  many  great  and  various 
duties  now  devolving  upon  it  with  a  promptness  and 
thoroughness  which  are,  with  its  present  constitution  and 
means  of  action,  practically  impossible. 

Second,  the  establishment  of  an  eight-hour  day  as  the 
legal  basis  alike  of  work  and  of  wages  in  the  employment 
of  all  railway  employees  who  are  actually  engaged  in  the 
work  of  operating  trains  in  interstate  transportation. 

Third,  the  authorization  of  the  appointment  by  the 
President  of  a  small  body  of  men  to  observe  the  actual 
results  in  experience  of  the  adoption  of  the  eight-hour 
day  in  railway  transportation  alike  for  the  men  and  for 
the  railroads ;  its  effects  in  the  matter  of  operating  costs, 
in  the  application  of  the  existing  practices  and  agree- 
ments to  the  new  conditions  and  in  all  other  practical 
aspects,  with  the  provision  that  the  investigators  shall 
report  their  conclusions  to  the  Congress  at  the  earliest 
possible  date,  but  without  recommendation  as  to  legisla- 
tive action ;  in  order  that  the  public  may  learn  from  an 
unprejudiced  source  just  what  actual  developments  have 
ensued. 

Fourth,  explicit  approval  by  the  Congress  of  the  con- 
sideration by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  of  an 
increase  of  freight  rates  to  meet  such  additional  expend- 
itures by  the  railroads  as  may  have  been  rendered  neces- 
sary by  the  adoption  of  the  eight-hour  day  and  which 
have  not  been  offset  by  administrative  readjustments 
and  economies,  should  the  facts  disclosed  justify  the 
increase. 

Fifth,  an  amendment  of  the  existing  federal  statute 
which  provides  for  the  mediation,  conciliation,  and  arbi- 
tration of  such  controversies  as  the  present  by  adding  to 
it  a  provision  that  in  case  the  methods  of  accommodation 
now  provided  for  should  fail,  a  full  public  investigation 


134  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

of  the  merits  of  every  such  dispute  shall  be  instituted 
and  completed  before  a  strike  or  lockout  may  lawfully  be 
attempted. 

And,  sixth,  the  lodgment  in  the  hands  of  the  Execu- 
tive of  the  power,  in  case  of  military  necessity,  to  take 
control  of  such  portions  and  such  rolling  stock  of  the 
railways  of  the  country  as  may  be  required  for  military 
use  and  to  operate  them  for  military  purposes,  with  au- 
thority to  draft  into  the  military  service  of  the  United 
States  such  train  crews  and  administrative  officials  as 
the  circumstances  require  for  their  safe  and  efficient  use. 

This  last  suggestion  I  make  because  we  cannot  in  any 
circumstances  suffer  the  nation  to  be  hampered  in  the 
essential  matter  of  national  defense.  At  the  present 
moment  circumstances  render  this  duty  particularly  ob- 
vious. Almost  the  entire  military  force  of  the  nation  is 
stationed  upon  the  Mexican  border  to  guard  our  terri- 
tory against  hostile  raids.  It  must  be  supplied,  and 
steadily  supplied,  with  whatever  it  needs  for  its  main- 
tenance and  efficiency.  If  it  should  be  necessary  for 
purposes  of  national  defense  to  transfer  any  portion  of 
it  upon  short  notice  to  some  other  part  of  the  country, 
for  reasons  now  unforeseen,  ample  means  of  transporta- 
tion must  be  available,  and  available  without  delay.  The 
power  conferred  in  this  matter  should  be  carefully  and 
explicitly  limited  to  cases  of  military  necessity,  but  in  all 
such  cases  it  should  be  clear  and  ample. 

There  is  one  other  thing  we  should  do  if  we  are  true 
champions  of  arbitration.  "We  should  make  all  arbitral 
awards  judgments  by  record  of  a  court  of  law  in  order 
that  their  interpretation  and  enforcement  may  lie,  not 
with  one  of  the  parties  to  the  arbitration,  but  with  an 
impartial  and  authoritative  tribunal. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  135 

These  things  I  urge  upon  you,  not  in  haste  or  merely  as 
a  means  of  meeting  a  present  emergency,  but  as  perma- 
nent and  necessary  additions  to  the  law  of  the  land,  sug- 
gested, indeed,  by  circumstances  we  had  hoped  never  to 
see,  but  imperative  as  well  as  just,  if  such  emergencies 
are  to  be  prevented  in  the  future.  I  feel  that  no  ex- 
tended argument  is  needed  to  commend  them  to  your 
favorable  consideration.  They  demonstrate  themselves. 
The  time  and  the  occasion  only  give  emphasis  to  their 
importance.  We  need  them  now  and  we  shall  continue 
to  need  them. 


136  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ANNUAL  ADDRESS  TO  CONGRESS 

December  5,  1916 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONGRESS  : 

In  fulfilling  at  this  time  the  duty  laid  upon  me  by  the 
Constitution  of  communicating  to  you  from  time  to  time 
information  of  the  state  of  the  Union  and  recommending 
to  your  consideration  such  legislative  measures  as  may 
be  judged  necessary  and  expedient,  I  shall  continue  the 
practice,  which  I  hope  has  been  acceptable  to  you,  of 
leaving  to  the  reports  of  the  several  heads  of  the  execu- 
tive departments  the  elaboration  of  the  detailed  needs  of 
the  public  service  and  confine  myself  to  those  matters  of 
more  general  public  policy  with  which  it  seems  necessary 
and  feasible  to  deal  at  the  present  session  of  the  Congress. 

I  realize  the  limitations  of  time  under  which  you  will 
necessarily  act  at  this  session  and  shall  make  my  sugges- 
tions as  few  as  possible ;  but  there  were  some  things  left 
undone  at  the  last  session  which  there  will  now  be  time 
to  complete  and  which  it  seems  necessary  in  the  interest 
of  the  public  to  do  at  once. 

In  the  first  place,  it  seems  to  me  imperatively  necessary 
that  the  earliest  possible  consideration  and  action  should 
be  accorded  the  remaining  measures  of  the  programme 
of  settlement  and  regulation  which  I  had  occasion  to 
recommend  to  you  at  the  close  of  your  last  session  in  view 
of  the  public  dangers  disclosed  by  the  unaccommodated 
difficulties  which  then  existed,  and  which  still  unhappily 
continue  to  exist,  between  the  railroads  of  the  country 
and  their  locomotive  engineers,  conductors,  and  trainmen. 

I  then  recommended: 

First,  immediate  provision  for  the  enlargement  and 
administrative  reorganization  of  the  Interstate  Com- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  137 

merce  Commission  along  the  lines  embodied  in  the  bill 
recently  passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
now  awaiting  action  by  the  Senate;  in  order  that  the 
Commission  may  be  enabled  to  deal  with  the  many  great 
and  various  duties  now  devolving  upon  it  with  a  prompt- 
ness and  thoroughness  which  are,  with  its  present  con- 
stitution and  means  of  action,  practically  impossible. 

Second,  the  establishment  of  an  eight-hour  day  as  the 
legal  basis  alike  of  work  and  of  wages  in  the  employment 
of  all  railway  employees  who  are  actually  engaged  in  the 
work  of  operating  trains  in  interstate  transportation. 

Third,  the  authorization  of  the  appointment  by  the 
President  of  a  small  body  of  men  to  observe  the  actual 
results  in  experience  of  the  adoption  of  the  eight-hour 
day  in  railway  transportation  alike  for  the  men  and  for 
the  railroads. 

Fourth,  explicit  approval  by  the  Congress  of  the  con- 
sideration by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  of  an 
increase  of  freight  rates  to  meet  such  additional  expend- 
itures by  the  railroads  as  may  have  been  rendered  neces- 
sary by  the  adoption  of  the  eight-hour  day  and  which 
have  not  been  offset  by  administrative  readjustments 
and  economies,  should  the  facts  disclosed  justify  the 
increase. 

Fifth,  an  amendment  of  the  existing  federal  statute 
which  provides  for  the  mediation,  conciliation,  and  arbi- 
tration of  such  controversies  as  the  present  by  adding 
to  it  a  provision  that,  in  case  the  methods  of  accommo- 
dation now  provided  for  should  fail,  a  full  public  inves- 
tigation of  the  merits  of  every  such  dispute  shall  be 
instituted  and  completed  before  a  strike  or  lockout  may 
lawfully  be  attempted. 

And,  sixth,  the  lodgment  in  the  hands  of  the  Executive 
of  the  power,  in  case  of  military  necessity,  to  take  control 


138  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

of  such  portions  and  such  rolling  stock  of  the  railways 
of  the  country  as  may  be  required  for  military  use  and 
to  operate  them  for  military  purposes,  with  authority  to 
draft  into  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  such 
train  crews  and  administrative  officials  as  the  circum- 
stances require  for  their  safe  and  efficient  use. 

The  second  and  third  of  these  recommendations  the 
Congress  immediately  acted  on ;  it  established  the  eight- 
hour  day  as  the  legal  basis  of  work  and  wages  in  train 
service  and  it  authorized  the  appointment  of  a  commis- 
sion to  observe  and  report  upon  the  practical  results, 
deeming  these  the  measures  most  immediately  needed; 
but  it  postponed  action  upon  the  other  suggestions  until 
an  opportunity  should  be  offered  for  a  more  deliberate 
consideration  of  them.  The  fourth  recommendation  I 
do  not  deem  it  necessary  to  renew.  The  power  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to  grant  an  increase  of 
rates  on  the  ground  referred  to  is  indisputably  clear  and 
a  recommendation  by  the  Congress  with  regard  to  such 
a  matter  might  seem  to  draw  in  question  the  scope  of  the 
Commission's  authority  or  its  inclination  to  do  justice 
when  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  either. 

The  other  suggestions — the  increase  in  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission's  membership  and  in  its  facilities 
for  performing  its  manifold  duties,  the  provision  for  full 
public  investigation  and  assessment  of  industrial  dis- 
putes, and  the  grant  to  the  Executive  of  the  power  to 
control  and  operate  the  railways  when  necessary  in  time 
of  war  or  other  like  public  necessity — I  now  very  ear- 
nestly renew. 

The  necessity  for  such  legislation  is  manifest  and  press- 
ing. Those  who  have  entrusted  us  with  the  responsibility 
and  duty  of  serving  and  safeguarding  them  in  such  mat- 
ters would  find  it  hard,  I  believe,  to  excuse  a  failure  to 


GREAT  SPEECHES  139 

act  upon  these  grave  matters  or  any  unnecessary  post- 
ponement of  action  upon  them. 

Not  only  does  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
now  find  it  practically  impossible,  with  its  present  mem- 
bership and  organization,  to  perform  its  great  functions 
promptly  and  thoroughly,  but  it  is  not  unlikely  that  it 
may  presently  be  found  advisable  to  add  to  its  duties  still 
others  equally  heavy  and  exacting.  It  must  first  be  per- 
fected as  an  administrative  instrument. 

The  country  cannot  and  should  not  consent  to  remain 
any  longer  exposed  to  profound  industrial  disturbances 
for  lack  of  additional  means  of  arbitration  and  concilia- 
tion which  the  Congress  can  easily  and  promptly  supply. 
And  all  will  agree  that  there  must  be  no  doubt  as  to  the 
power  of  the  Executive  to  make  immediate  and  uninter- 
rupted use  of  the  railroads  for  the  concentration  of  the 
military  forces  of  the  nation  wherever  they  are  needed 
and  whenever  they  are  needed. 

This  is  a  programme  of  regulation,  prevention,  and 
administrative  efficiency  which  argues  its  own  case  in 
the  mere  statement  of  it.  "With  regard  to  one  of  its 
items,  the  increase  in  the  efficiency  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission,  the  House  of  Representatives  has 
already  acted;  its  action  needs  only  the  concurrence  of 
the  Senate. 

I  would  hesitate  to  recommend,  and  I  dare  say  the 
Congress  would  hesitate  to  act  upon  the  suggestion  should 
I  make  it,  that  any  man  in  any  occupation  should  be 
obliged  by  law  to  continue  in  an  employment  which  he 
desired  to  leave.  To  pass  a  law  which  forbade  or  pre- 
vented the  individual  workman  to  leave  his  work  before 
receiving  the  approval  of  society  in  doing  so  would  be  to 
adopt  a  new  principle  into  our  jurisprudence  which  I 
take  it  for  granted  we  are  not  prepared  to  introduce. 


140  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

But  the  proposal  that  the  operation  of  the  railways  of 
the  country  shall  not  be  stopped  or  interrupted  by  the 
concerted  action  of  organized  bodies  of  men  until  a  public 
investigation  shall  have  been  instituted  which  shall  make 
the  whole  question  at  issue  plain  for  the  judgment  of  the 
opinion  of  the  nation  is  not  to  propose  any  such  principle. 
It  is  based  upon  the  very  different  principle  that  the  con- 
certed action  of  powerful  bodies  of  men  shall  not  be  per- 
mitted to  stop  the  industrial  processes  of  the  nation,  at 
any  rate  before  the  nation  shall  have  had  an  opportunity 
to  acquaint  itself  with  the  merits  of  the  case  as  between 
employee  and  employer,  time  to  form  its  opinion  upon 
an  impartial  statement  of  the  merits,  and  opportunity 
to  consider  all  practicable  means  of  conciliation  or  arbi- 
tration. I  can  see  nothing  in  that  proposition  but  the 
justifiable  safeguarding  by  society  of  the  necessary  proc- 
esses of  its  very  life.  There  is  nothing  arbitrary  or 
unjust  in  it  unless  it  be  arbitrarily  and  unjustly  done. 
It  can  and  should  be  done  with  a  full  and  scrupulous 
regard  for  the  interests  and  liberties  of  all  concerned  as 
well  as  for  the  permanent  interests  of  society  itself. 

Three  matters  of  capital  importance  await  the  action 
of  the  Senate  which  have  already  been  acted  upon  by 
the  House  of  Representatives:  the  bill  which  seeks  to 
extend  greater  freedom  of  combination  to  those  engaged 
in  promoting  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  country  than 
is  now  thought  by  some  to  be  legal  under  the  terms  of  the 
laws  against  monopoly;  the  bill  amending  the  present 
organic  law  of  Porto  Rico ;  and  the  bill  proposing  a  more 
thorough  and  systematic  regulation  of  the  expenditure 
of  money  in  elections,  commonly  called  the  Corrupt  Prac- 
tices Act.  I  need  not  labor  my  advice  that  these  meas- 
ures be  enacted  into  law.  Their  urgency  lies  in  the 
manifest  circumstances  which  render  their  adoption  at 


GREAT  SPEECHES  141 

this  time  not  only  opportune  but  necessary.  Even  delay 
would  seriously  jeopard  the  interests  of  the  country  and 
of  the  government. 

Immediate  passage  of  the  bill  to  regulate  the  expend- 
iture of  money  in  elections  may  seem  to  be  less  necessary 
than  the  immediate  enactment  of  the  other  measures  to 
which  I  refer ;  because  at  least  two  years  will  elapse  before 
another  election  in  which  federal  offices  are  to  be  filled ; 
but  it  would  greatly  relieve  the  public  mind  if  this  im- 
portant matter  were  dealt  with  while  the  circumstances 
and  the  dangers  to  the  public  morals  of  the  present 
method  of  obtaining  and  spending  campaign  funds  stand 
clear  under  recent  observation  and  the  methods  of  ex- 
penditure can  be  frankly  studied  in  the  light  of  present 
experience;  and  a  delay  would  have  the  further  very 
serious  disadvantage  of  postponing  action  until  another 
election  was  at  hand  and  some  special  object  connected 
with  it  might  be  thought  to  be  in  the  mind  of  those  who 
urged  it.  Action  can  be  taken  now  with  facts  for  guid- 
ance and  without  suspicion  of  partisan  purpose. 

I  shall  not  argue  at  length  the  desirability  of  giving  a 
freer  hand  in  the  matter  of  combined  and  concerted 
effort  to  those  who  shall  undertake  the  essential  enter- 
prise of  building  up  our  export  trade.  That  enterprise 
will  presently,  will  immediately  assume,  has  indeed  al- 
ready assumed,  a  magnitude  unprecedented  in  our  expe- 
rience. We  have  not  the  necessary  instrumentalities  for 
its  prosecution ;  it  is  deemed  to  be  doubtful  whether  they 
could  be  created  upon  an  adequate  scale  under  our  pres- 
ent laws.  We  should  clear  away  all  legal  obstacles  and 
create  a  basis  of  undoubted  law  for  it  which  will  give 
freedom  without  permitting  unregulated  license.  The 
thing  must  be  done  now,  because  the  opportunity  is  here 
and  may  escape  us  if  we  hesitate  or  delay. 


142  PSESIDENT  WILSON'S 

The  argument  for  the  proposed  amendments  of  the 
organic  law  of  Porto  Rico  is  brief  and  conclusive.  The 
present  laws  governing  the  Island  and  regulating  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  its  people  are  not  just.  "We  have 
created  expectations  of  extended  privilege  which  we  have 
not  satisfied.  There  is  uneasiness  among  the  people  of 
the  Island  and  even  a  suspicious  doubt  with  regard  to 
our  intentions  concerning  them  which  the  adoption  of 
the  pending  measure  would  happily  remove.  We  do  not 
doubt  what  we  wish  to  do  in  any  essential  particular.  We 
ought  to  do  it  at  once. 

At  the  last  session  of  the  Congress  a  bill  was  passed 
by  the  Senate  which  provides  for  the  promotion  of  voca- 
tional and  industrial  education  which  is  of  vital  impor- 
tance to  the  whole  country  because  it  concerns  a  matter, 
too  long  neglected,  upon  which  the  thorough  industrial 
preparation  of  the  country  for  the  critical  years  of  eco- 
nomic development  immediately  ahead  of  us  in  very  large 
measure  depends.  May  I  not  urge  its  early  and  favor- 
able consideration  by  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
its  early  enactment  into  law?  It  contains  plans  which 
affect  all  interests  and  all  parts  of  the  country  and  I  am 
sure  that  there  is  no  legislation  now  pending  before  the 
Congress  whose  passage  the  country  awaits  with  more 
thoughtful  approval  or  greater  impatience  to  see  a  great 
and  admirable  thing  set  in  the  way  of  being  done. 

There  are  other  matters  already  advanced  to  the  stage 
of  conference  between  the  two  Houses  of  which  it  is  not 
necessary  that  I  should  speak.  Some  practicable  basis  of 
agreement  concerning  them  will  no  doubt  be  found  and 
action  taken  upon  them. 

Inasmuch  as  this  is,  Gentlemen,  probably  the  last  occa- 
sion I  shall  have  to  address  the  Sixty-fourth  Congress, 
I  hope  that  you  will  permit  me  to  say  with  what  genuine 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  143 

pleasure  and  satisfaction  I  have  cooperated  with  you  in 
the  many  measures  of  constructive  policy  with  which  you 
have  enriched  the  legislative  annals  of  the  country.  It 
has  been  a  privilege  to  labor  in  such  company.  I  take 
the  liberty  of  congratulating  you  upon  the  completion  of 
a  record  of  rare  serviceableness  and  distinction. 


144  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

LAST  HOPES  OF  PEACE 

President  Wilson's  Address  to  the  Senate  of  the  United 
States,  January  22,  1917 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  SENATE  : 

On  the  eighteenth  of  December  last  I  addressed  an 
identic  note  to  the  governments  of  the  nations  now  at  war 
requesting  them  to  state,  more  definitely  than  they  had 
yet  been  stated  by  either  group  of  belligerents,  the  terms 
upon  which  they  would  deem  it  possible  to  make  peace. 
I  spoke  on  behalf  of  humanity  and  of  the  rights  of  all 
neutral  nations  like  our  own,  many  of  whose  most  vital 
interests  the  war  puts  in  constant  jeopardy.  The  Central 
Powers  united  in  a  reply  which  stated  merely  that  they 
were  ready  to  meet  their  antagonists  in  conference  to  dis- 
cuss terms  of  peace.  The  Entente  Powers  have  replied 
much  more  definitely  and  have  stated,  in  general  terms, 
indeed,  but  with  sufficient  definiteness  to  imply  details, 
the  arrangements,  guarantees,  and  acts  of  reparation 
which  they  deem  to  be  the  indispensable  conditions  of  a 
satisfactory  settlement.  We  are  that  much  nearer  a  defi- 
nite discussion  of  the  peace  which  shall  end  the  present 
war.  We  are  that  much  nearer  the  discussion  of  the 
international  concert  which  must  thereafter  hold  the 
world  at  peace.  In  every  discussion  of  the  peace  that 
must  end  this  war  it  is  taken  for  granted  that  that  peace 
must  be  followed  by  some  definite  concert  of  power  which 
will  make  it  virtually  impossible  that  any  such  catas- 
trophe should  ever  overwhelm  us  again.  Every  lover  of 
mankind,  every  sane  and  thoughtful  man  must  take  that 
for  granted. 

I  have  sought  this  opportunity  to  address  you  because 
I  thought  that  I  owed  it  to  you,  as  the  council  associated 


GREAT  SPEECHES  145 

•with  me  in  the  final  determination  of  our  international 
obligations,  to  disclose  to  you  without  reserve  the  thought 
and  purpose  that  have  been  taking  form  in  my  mind 
in  regard  to  the  duty  of  our  Government  in  the  days  to 
come  when  it  will  be  necessary  to  lay  afresh  and  upon 
a  new  plan  the  foundations  of  peace  among  the  nations. 

It  is  inconceivable  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
should  play  no  part  in  that  great  enterprise.  To  take 
part  in  such  a  service  will  be  the  opportunity  for  which 
they  have  sought  to  prepare  themselves  by  the  very  prin- 
ciples and  purposes  of  their  polity  and  the  approved 
practices  of  their  Government  ever  since  the  days  when 
they  set  up  a  new  nation  in  the  high  and  honorable  hope 
that  it  might  in  all  that  it  was  and  did  show  mankind 
the  way  to  liberty.  They  cannot  in  honor  withhold  the 
service  to  which  they  are  now  about  to  be  challenged. 
They  do  not  wish  to  withhold  it.  But  they  owe  it  to 
themselves  and  to  the  other  nations  of  the  world  to  state 
the  conditions  under  which  they  will  feel  free  to  render  it. 

That  service  is  nothing  less  than  this,  to  add  their 
authority  and  their  power  to  the  authority  and  force  of 
other  nations  to  guarantee  peace  and  justice  throughout 
the  world.  Such  a  settlement  cannot  now  be  long  post- 
poned. It  is  right  that  before  it  comes  this  Government 
should  frankly  formulate  the  conditions  upon  which  it 
would  feel  justified  in  asking  our  people  to  approve  its 
formal  and  solemn  adherence  to  a  League  for  Peace.  I 
am  here  to  attempt  to  state  those  conditions. 

The  present  war  must  first  be  ended ;  but  we  owe  it  to 
candor  and  to  a  just  regard  for  the  opinion  of  mankind 
to  say  that,  so  far  as  our  participation  in  guarantees  of 
future  peace  is  concerned,  it  makes  a  great  deal  of  dif- 
ference in  what  way  and  upon  what  terms  it  is  ended. 
The  treaties  and  agreements  which  bring  it  to  an  end 


146  PBESIDENT  WILSON'S 

must  embody  terms  which  will  create  a  peace  that  is 
worth  guaranteeing  and  preserving,  a  peace  that  will  win 
the  approval  of  mankind,  not  merely  a  peace  that  will 
serve  the  several  interests  and  immediate  aims  of  the 
nations  engaged.  We  shall  have  no  voice  in  determining 
what  those  terms  shall  be,  but  we  shall,  I  feel  sure,  have 
a  voice  in  determining  whether  they  shall  be  made  lasting 
or  not  by  the  guarantees  of  a  universal  covenant;  and 
our  judgment  upon  what  is  fundamental  and  essential  as 
a  condition  precedent  to  permanency  should  be  spoken 
now,  not  afterwards  when  it  may  be  too  late. 

No  covenant  of  cooperative  peace  that  does  not  in- 
clude the  peoples  of  the  New  "World  can  suffice  to  keep 
the  future  safe  against  war;  and  yet  there  is  only  one 
sort  of  peace  that  the  peoples  of  America  could  join  in 
guaranteeing.  The  elements  of  that  peace  must  be  ele- 
ments that  engage  the  confidence  and  satisfy  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  American  governments,  elements  consistent ' 
with  their  political  faith  and  with  the  practical  convic- 
tions which  the  peoples  of  America  have  once  for  all 
embraced  and  undertaken  to  defend. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  any  American  government 
would  throw  any  obstacle  in  the  way  of  any  terms  of 
peace  the  governments  now  at  war  might  agree  upon,  or 
seek  to  upset  them  when  made,  whatever  they  might  be. 
I  only  take  it  for  granted  that  mere  terms  of  peace  be- 
tween the  belligerents  will  not  satisfy  even  the  belligerents 
themselves.  Mere  agreements  may  not  make  peace  secure. 
It  will  be  absolutely  necessary  that  a  force  be  created 
as  a  guarantor  of  the  permanency  of  the  settlement  so 
much  greater  than  the  force  of  any  nation  now  engaged 
'or  any  alliance  hitherto  formed  or  projected  that  no 
nation,  no  probable  combination  of  nations  could  face  or 
withstand  it.  If  the  peace  presently  to  be  made  is  to 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  147 

endure,  it  must  be  a  peace  made  secure  by  the  organized 
major  force  of  mankind. 

The  terms  of  the  immediate  peace  agreed  upon  will 
determine  whether  it  is  a  peace  for  which  such  a  guaran- 
tee can  be  secured.  The  question  upon  which  the  whole 
future  peace  and  policy  of  the  world  depends  is  this: 
Is  the  present  war  a  struggle  for  a  just  and  secure  peace, 
or  only  for  a  new  balance  of  power  ?  If  it  be  only  a  strug- 
gle for  a  new  balance  of  power,  who  will  guarantee,  who 
can  guarantee,  the  stable  equilibrium  of  the  new  arrange- 
ment ?  Only  a  tranquil  Europe  can  be  a  stable  Europe. 
There  must  be,  not  a  balance  of  power,  but  a  community 
of  power ;  not  organized  rivalries,  but  an  organized  com- 
mon peace. 

Fortunately  we  have  received  very  explicit  assurances 
on  this  point.  The  statesmen  of  both  of  the  groups  of 
nations  now  arrayed  against  one  another  have  said,  in 
terms  that  could  not  be  misinterpreted,  that  it  was  no 
part  of  the  purpose  they  had  in  mind  to  crush  their  antag- 
onists. But  the  implications  of  these  assurances  maj 
not  be  equally  clear  to  all, — may  not  be  the  same  on  both 
sides  of  the  water.  I  think  it  will  be  serviceable  if  I 
attempt  to  set  forth  what  we  understand  them  to  be. 

They  imply,  first  of  all,  that  it  must  be  a  peace  without 
victory.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  say  this.  I  beg  that  I  may 
be  permitted  to  put  my  own  interpretation  upon  it  and 
that  it  may  be  understood  that  no  other  interpretation 
was  in  my  thought.  I  am  seeking  only  to  face  realities 
and  to  face  them  without  soft  concealments.  Victory 
would  mean  peace  forced  upon  the  loser,  a  victor's  terms 
imposed  upon  the  vanquished.  It  would  be  accepted  in 
humiliation,  under  duress,  at  an  intolerable  sacrifice, 
and  would  leave  a  sting,  a  resentment,  a  bitter  memory 
upon  which  terms  of  peace  would  rest,  not  permanently, 


148  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

but  only  as  upon  quicksand.  Only  a  peace  between  equals 
can  last.  Only  a  peace  the  very  principle  of  which  is 
equality  and  a  common  participation  in  a  common  benefit. 
The  right  state  of  mind,  the  right  feeling  between  nations, 
is  as  necessary  for  a  lasting  peace  as  is  the  just  settlement 
of  vexed  questions  of  territory  or  of  racial  and  national 
allegiance. 

The  equality  of  nations  upon  which  peace  must  be 
founded  if  it  is  to  last  must  be  an  equality  of  rights ;  the 
guarantees  exchanged  must  neither  recognize  nor  imply 
a  difference  between  big  nations  and  small,  between  those 
that  are  powerful  and  those  that  are  weak.  Right  must 
be  based  upon  the  common  strength,  not  upon  the  indi- 
vidual strength,  of  the  nations  upon  whose  concert  peace 
will  depend.  Equality  of  territory  or  of  resources  there 
of  course  cannot  be ;  nor  any  other  sort  of  equality  not 
gained  in  the  ordinary  peaceful  and  legitimate  develop- 
ment of  the  peoples  themselves.  But  no  one  asks  or  ex- 
pects anything  more  than  an  equality  of  rights.  Mankind 
is  looking  now  for  freedom  of  life,  not  for  equipoises  of 
power. 

And  there  is  a  deeper  thing  involved  than  even  equality 
of  right  among  organized  nations.  No  peace  can  last,  or 
ought  to  last,  which  does  not  recognize  and  accept  the 
principle  that  governments  derive  all  their  just  powers 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed,  and  that  no  right  any- 
where exists  to  hand  peoples  about  from  sovereignty  to 
sovereignty  as  if  they  were  property.  I  take  it  for 
granted,  for  instance,  if  I  may  venture  upon  a  single 
example,  that  statesmen  everywhere  are  agreed  that 
there  should  be  a  united,  independent,  and  autonomous 
Poland,  and  that  henceforth  inviolable  security  of  life, 
of  worship,  and  of  industrial  and  social  development 
should  be  guaranteed  to  all  peoples  who  have  lived 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  149 

hitherto  under  the  power  of  governments  devoted  to  a 
faith  and  purpose  hostile  to  their  own. 

I  speak  of  this,  not  because  of  any  desire  to  exalt  an 
abstract  political  principle  which  has  always  been  held 
very  dear  by  those  who  have  sought  to  build  up  liberty 
in  America,  but  for  the  same  reason  that  I  have  spoken 
of  the  other  conditions  of  peace  which  seem,  to  me  clearly 
indispensable, — because  I  wish  frankly  to  uncover  reali- 
ties. Any  peace  which  does  not  recognize  and  accept  this 
principle  will  inevitably  be  upset.  It  will  not  rest  upon 
the  affections  or  the  convictions  of  mankind.  The  fer- 
ment of  spirit  of  whole  populations  will  fight  subtly  and 
constantly  against  it,  and  all  the  world  will  sympathize. 
The  world  can  be  at  peace  only  if  its  life  is  stable,  and 
there  can  be  no  stability  where  the  will  is  in  rebellion, 
where  there  is  not  tranquility  of  spirit  and  a  sense  of 
justice,  of  freedom,  and  of  right. 

So  far  as  practicable,  moreover,  every  great  people 
now  struggling  towards  a  full  development  of  its  re- 
sources and  of  its  powers  should  be  assured  a  direct  outlet 
to  the  great  highways  of  the  sea.  Where  this  cannot  be 
done  by  the  cession  of  territory,  it  can  no  doubt  be  done 
by  the  neutralization  of  direct  rights  of  way  under  the 
general  guarantee  which  will  assure  the  peace  itself. 
With  a  right  comity  of  arrangement  no  nation  need  be 
shut  away  from  free  access  to  the  open  paths  of  the 
world's  commerce. 

And  the  paths  of  the  sea  must  alike  in  law  and  in  fact 
be  free.  The  freedom  of  the  seas  is  the  sine  qua  non  of 
peace,  equality,  and  cooperation.  No  doubt  a  somewhat 
radical  reconsideration  of  many  of  the  rules  of  interna- 
tional practice  hitherto  thought  to  be  established  may  be 
necessary  in  order  to  make  the  seas  indeed  free  and  com- 
mon in  practically  all  circumstances  for  the  use  of  man- 


150  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

kind,  but  the  motive  for  such  changes  is  convincing  and 
compelling.  There  can  be  no  trust  or  intimacy  between 
the  peoples  of  the  world  without  them.  The  free,  con- 
stant, unthreatened  intercourse  of  nations  is  an  essential 
part  of  the  process  of  peace  and  of  development.  It  need 
not  be  difficult  either  to  define  or  to  secure  the  freedom 
of  the  seas  if  the  governments  of  the  world  sincerely 
desire  to  come  to  an  agreement  concerning  it. 

It  is  a  problem  closely  connected  with  the  limitation 
of  naval  armaments  and  the  cooperation  of  the  navies  of 
the  world  in  keeping  the  seas  at  once  free  and  safe.  And 
the  question  of  limiting  naval  armaments  opens  the  wider 
and  perhaps  more  difficult  question  of  the  limitation  of 
armies  and  of  all  programmes  of  military  preparation. 
Difficult  and  delicate  as  these  questions  are,  they  must 
be  faced  with  the  utmost  candor  and  decided  in  a  spirit 
of  real  accommodation  if  peace  is  to  come  with  healing 
in  its  wings,  and  come  to  stay.  Peace  cannot  be  had  with- 
out concession  and  sacrifice.  There  can  be  no  sense  of 
safety  and  equality  among  the  nations  if  great  prepon- 
derating armaments  are  henceforth  to  continue  here  and 
there  to  be  built  up  and  maintained.  The  statesmen  of 
the  world  must  plan  for  peace  and  nations  must  adjust 
and  accommodate  their  policy  to  it  as  they  have  planned 
for  war  and  made  ready  for  pitiless  contest  and  rivalry. 
The  question  of  armaments,  whether  on  land  or  sea,  is  the 
most  immediately  and  intensely  practical  question  con- 
nected with  the  future  fortunes  of  nations  and  of  man- 
kind. 

I  have  spoken  upon  these  great  matters  without  reserve 
and  with  the  utmost  explicitness  because  it  has  seemed 
to  me  to  be  necessary  if  the  world's  yearning  desire  for 
peace  was  anywhere  to  find  free  voice  and  utterance. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  151 

Perhaps  I  am  the  only  person  in  high  authority  amongst 
all  the  peoples  of  the  world  who  is  at  liberty  to  speak  and 
hold  nothing  back.  I  am  speaking  as  an  individual,  and 
yet  I  am  speaking  also,  of  course,  as  the  responsible  head 
of  a  great  government,  and  I  feel  confident  that  I  have 
said  what  the  people  of  the  United  States  would  wish  me 
to  say.  May  I  not  add  that  I  hope  and  believe  that  I  am 
in  effect  speaking  for  liberals  and  friends  of  humanity 
in  every  nation  and  of  every  programme  of  liberty?  I 
would  fain  believe  that  I  am  speaking  for  the  silent  mass 
of  mankind  everywhere  who  have  as  yet  had  no  place  or 
opportunity  to  speak  their  real  hearts  out  concerning  the 
death  and  ruin  they  see  to  have  come  already  upon  the 
persons  and  the  homes  they  hold  most  dear. 

And  in  holding  out  the  expectation  that  the  people  and 
Government  of  the  United  States  will  join  the  other  civ- 
ilized nations  of  the  world  in  guaranteeing  the  perma- 
nence of  peace  upon  such  terms  as  I  have  named  I  speak 
with  the  greater  boldness  and  confidence  because  it  is 
clear  to  every  man  who  can  think  that  there  is  in  this 
promise  no  breach  in  either  our  traditions  or  our  policy 
as  a  nation,  but  a  fulfilment,  rather,  of  all  that  we  have 
professed  or  striven  for.  I  am  proposing,  as  it  were,  that 
the  nations  should  with  one  accord  adopt  the  doctrine  of 
President  Monroe  as  the  doctrine  of  the  world:  that  no 
nation  should  seek  to  extend  its  polity  over  any  other 
nation  or  people,  but  that  every  people  should  be  left 
free  to  determine  its  own  polity,  its  own  way  of  develop- 
ment, unhindered,  unthreatened,  unafraid,  the  little 
along  with  the  great  and  powerful. 

I  am  proposing  that  all  nations  henceforth  avoid  en- 
tangling alliances  which  would  draw  them  into  compe- 
titions of  power,  catch  them  in  a  net  of  intrigue  and 
selfish  rivalry,  and  disturb  their  own  affairs  with  influ- 


152  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ences  intruded  from  without.  There  is  no  entangling 
alliance  in  a  concert  of  power.  When  all  unite  to  act  in 
the  same  sense  and  with  the  same  purpose  all  act  in  the 
common  interest  and  are  free  to  live  their  own  lives 
under  a  common  protection. 

I  am  proposing  government  by  the  consent  of  the  gov- 
erned; that  freedom  of  the  seas  which  in  international 
conference  after  conference  representatives  of  the  United 
States  have  urged  with  the  eloquence  of  those  who  are  the 
convinced  disciples  of  liberty;  and  that  moderation  of 
armaments  which  makes  of  armies  and  navies  a  power 
for  order  merely,  not  an  instrument  of  aggression  or  of 
selfish  violence. 

These  are  American  principles,  American  policies.  We 
could  stand  for  no  others.  And  they  are  also  the  prin- 
ciples and  policies  of  forward  looking  men  and  women 
everywhere,  of  every  modern  nation,  of  every  enlightened 
community.  They  are  the  principles  of  mankind  and 
must  prevail. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  153 

Letter  to  a  Congressman 

' '  It  is  incomprehensible  to  me  how  any  frank  or  honest 
person  could  doubt  or  question  my  position  with  regard  to 
the  war  and  its  objects.  I  have  again  and  again  stated 
the  very  serious  and  long  continued  wrongs  which  the 
imperial  German  Government  has  perpetrated  against 
the  rights,  the  commerce,  and  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  The  list  is  long  and  overwhelming.  No  nation 
that  respects  itself  or  the  rights  of  humanity  could  have 
borne  those  wrongs  any  longer. 

"Our  objects  in  going  into  the  war  have  been  stated 
with  equal  clearness.  The  whole  of  the  conception  which 
I  take  to  be  the  conception  of  our  fellow  countrymen,  with 
regard  to  the  outcome  of  the  war  and  the  terms  of  its  set- 
tlement I  set  forth  with  the  utmost  explicitness  in  an 
address  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  on  the  22d 
of  January  last.  Again  in  my  message  to  Congress  on 
the  2d  of  April  last  those  objects  were  stated  in  unmis- 
takable terms. 

"I  can  conceive  of  no  purpose  in  seeking  to  becloud 
this  matter  except  the  purpose  of  weakening  the  hands 
of  the  Government  and  making  the  part  which  the  United 
States  is  to  play  in  this  great  struggle  for  human  liberty 
an  inefficient  and  hesitating  part.  We  have  entered 
the  war  for  our  own  reasons  and  with  our  own  objects 
clearly  stated,  and  shall  forget  neither  the  reasons  nor 
the  objects. 

' '  There  is  no  hate  in  our  hearts  for  the  German  people, 
but  there  is  a  resolve  which  cannot  be  shaken  even  by 
misrepresentation  to  overcome  the  pretensions  of  the 
autocratic  government  which  act  upon  purposes  to  which 
the  German  people  have  never  consented. ' ' 

May  22,  1917.  WOODROW  WILSON. 


154  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  BROKEN 

The  President's  Address  to  Congress,  February  3,  1917 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONGRESS: 

The  Imperial  German  Government  on  the  thirty-first 
of  January  announced  to  this  Government  and  to  the 
governments  of  the  other  neutral  nations  that  on  and 
after  the  first  day  of  February,  the  present  month,  it 
would  adopt  a  policy  with  regard  to  the  use  of  submarines 
against  all  shipping  seeking  to  pass  through  certain  desig- 
nated areas  of  the  high  seas  to  which  it  is  clearly  my  duty 
to  call  your  attention. 

Let  me  remind  the  Congress  that  on  the  eighteenth  of 
April  last,  in  view  of  the  sinking  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
March  of  the  cross-channel  passenger  steamer  ' '  Sussex ' ' 
by  a  German  submarine,  without  summons  or  warning, 
and  the  consequent  loss  of  the  lives  of  several  citizens 
of  the  United  States  who  were  passengers  aboard  her, 
this  Government  addressed  a  note  to  the  Imperial  German 
Government  in  which  it  made  the  following  declaration : 

' '  If  it  is  still  the  purpose  of  the  Imperial  Government 
to  prosecute  relentless  and  indiscriminate  warfare  against 
vessels  of  commerce  by  the  use  of  submarines  without 
regard  to  what  the  Government  of  the  United  States  must 
consider  the  sacred  and  indisputable  rules  of  interna- 
tional law  and  the  universally  recognized  dictates  of 
humanity,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  at  last 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  but  one  course  it 
can  pursue.  Unless  the  Imperial  Government  should 
now  immediately  declare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of 
its  present  methods  of  submarine  warfare  against  pas- 
senger and  freight-carrying  vessels,  the  Government  of 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  155 

the  United  States  can  have  no  choice  but  to  sever  diplo- 
matic relations  with  the  German  Empire  altogether. ' ' 

In  reply  to  this  declaration  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment gave  this  Government  the  following  assurance: 

' '  The  German  Government  is  prepared  to  do  its  utmost 
to  confine  the  operations  of  war  for  the  rest  of  its  dura- 
tion to  the  fighting  forces  of  the  belligerents,  thereby  also 
insuring  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  a  principle  upon  which 
the  German  Government  believes,  now  as  before,  to  be 
in  agreement  with  the  Government  of  the  United  States. 

' '  The  German  Government,  guided  by  this  idea,  notifies 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  that  the  German 
naval  forces  have  received  the  following  orders:  In  ac- 
cordance with  the  general  principles  of  visit  and  search 
and  destruction  of  merchant  vessels  recognized  by  inter- 
national law,  such  vessels,  both  within  and  without  the 
area  declared  as  naval  war  zone,  shall  not  be  sunk  with- 
out warning  and  without  saving  human  lives,  unless  these 
ships  attempt  to  escape  or  offer  resistance. 

"But,"  it  added,  "neutrals  can  not  expect  that  Ger- 
many, forced  to  fight  for  her  existence,  shall,  for  the 
sake  of  neutral  interest,  restrict  the  use  of  an  effective 
weapon  if  her  enemy  is  permitted  to  continue  to  apply 
at  will  methods  of  warfare  violating  the  rules  of  inter- 
national law.  Such  a  demand  would  be  incompatible  with 
the  character  of  neutrality,  and  the  German  Government 
is  convinced  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
does  not  think  of  making  such  a  demand,  knowing  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  repeatedly 
declared  that  it  is  determined  to  restore  the  principle 
of  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  from  whatever  quarter  it  has 
been  violated." 


156  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

To  this  the  Government  of  the  United  States  replied  on 
the  eighth  of  May,  accepting,  of  course,  the  assurances 
given,  but  adding, 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  feels  it  neces- 
sary to  state  that  it  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  Imperial 
German  Government  does  not  intend  to  imply  that  the 
maintenance  of  its  newly  announced  policy  is  in  any  way 
contingent  upon  the  course  or  result  of  diplomatic  nego- 
tiations between  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and 
any  other  belligerent  Government,  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  certain  passages  in  the  Imperial  Government's 
note  of  the  4th  instant  might  appear  to  be  susceptible  of 
that  construction.  In  order,  however,  to  avoid  any  pos- 
sible misunderstanding,  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  notifies  the  Imperial  Government  that  it  can  not 
for  a  moment  entertain,  much  less  discuss,  a  suggestion 
that  respect  by  German  naval  authorities  for  the  rights 
of  citizens  of  the  United  States  upon  the  high  seas  should 
in  any  way  or  in  the  slightest  degree  be  made  contingent 
upon  the  conduct  of  any  other  Government  affecting  the 
rights  of  neutrals  and  noncombatants.  Responsibility  in 
such  matters  is  single,  not  joint;  absolute,  not  relative." 

To  this  note  of  the  eighth  of  May  the  Imperial  German 
Government  made  no  reply. 

On  the  thirty-first  of  January,  the  Wednesday  of  the 
present  week,  the  German  Ambassador  handed  to  the 
Secretary  of  State,  along  with  a  formal  note,  a  memo- 
randum which  contains  the  following  statement : 

"The  Imperial  Government,  therefore,  does  not  doubt 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  understand 
the  situation  thus  forced  upon  Germany  by  the  Entente 
Allies '  brutal  methods  of  war  and  by  their  determination 


GREAT  SPEECHES  157 

to  destroy  the  Central  Powers,  and  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  will  further  realize  that  the  now 
openly  disclosed  intentions  of  the  Entente  Allies  give  back 
to  Germany  the  freedom  of  action  which  she  reserved  in 
her  note  addressed  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  on  May  4,  1916. 

"  Under  these  circumstances  Germany  will  meet  the 
illegal  measures  of  her  enemies  by  forcibly  preventing 
after  February  1,  1917,  in  a  zone  around  Great  Britain, 
France,  Italy,  and  in  the  Eastern  Mediterranean  all  nav- 
igation, that  of  neutrals  included,  from  and  to  England 
and  from  and  to  France,  etc.,  etc.  All  ships  met  within 
the  zone  will  be  sunk. ' ' 

I  think  that  you  will  agree  with  me  that,  in  view  of 
this  declaration,  which  suddenly  and  without  prior  inti- 
mation of  any  kind  deliberately  withdraws  the  solemn 
assurance  given  in  the  Imperial  Government's  note  of 
the  fourth  of  May,  1916,  this  Government  has  no  alter- 
native consistent  with  the  dignity  and  honor  of  the  United 
States  but  to  take  the  course  which,  in  its  note  of  the 
eighteenth  of  April,  1916,  it  announced  that  it  would  take 
in  the  event  that  the  German  Government  did  not  declare 
and  effect  an  abandonment  of  the  methods  of  submarine 
warfare  which  it  was  then  employing  and  to  which  it  now 
purposes  again  to  resort. 

I  have,  therefore,  directed  the  Secretary  of  State  to 
announce  to  His  Excellency  the  German  Ambassador  that 
all  diplomatic  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
the  German  Empire  are  severed,  and  that  the  American 
Ambassador  at  Berlin  will  immediately  be  withdrawn; 
and,  in  accordance  with  this  decision,  to  hand  to  His 
Excellency  his  passports. 

Notwithstanding  this  unexpected  action  of  the  Ger- 


158  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

man  Government,  this  sudden  and  deeply  deplorable 
renunciation  of  its  assurances,  given  this  Government  at 
one  of  the  most  critical  moments  of  tension  in  the  rela- 
tions of  the  two  governments,  I  refuse  to  believe  that  it  is 
the  intention  of  the  German  authorities  to  do  in  fact  what 
they  have  warned  us  they  will  feel  at  liberty  to  do.  I 
cannot  bring  myself  to  believe  that  they  will  indeed  pay 
no  regard  to  the  ancient  friendship  between  their  people 
and  our  own  or  to  the  solemn  obligations  which  have  been 
exchanged  between  them  and  destroy  American  ships  and 
take  the  lives  of  American  citizens  in  the  wilful  prosecu- 
tion of  the  ruthless  naval  programme  they  have  an- 
nounced their  intention  to  adopt.  Only  actual  overt  acts 
on  their  part  can  make  me  believe  it  even  now. 

If  this  inveterate  confidence  on  my  part  in  the  sobriety 
and  prudent  foresight  of  their  purpose  should  unhappily 
prove  unfounded ;  if  American  ships  and  American  lives 
should  in  fact  be  sacrificed  by  their  naval  commanders 
in  heedless  contravention  of  the  just  and  reasonable  un- 
derstandings of  international  law  and  the  obvious  dictates 
of  humanity,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  coming  again 
before  the  Congress  to  ask  that  authority  be  given  me  to 
use  any  means  that  may  be  necessary  for  the  protection 
of  our  seamen  and  our  people  in  the  prosecution  of  their 
peaceful  and  legitimate  errands  on  the  high  seas.  I  can 
do  nothing  less.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  all  neutral  gov- 
ernments will  take  the  same  course. 

We  do  not  desire  any  hostile  conflict  with  the  Imperial 
German  Government.  We  are  the  sincere  friends  of  the 
German  people  and  earnestly  desire  to  remain  at  peace 
with  the  Government  which  speaks  for  them.  We  shall 
not  believe  that  they  are  hostile  to  us  unless  and  until  we 
are  obliged  to  believe  it;  and  we  purpose  nothing  more 
than  the  reasonable  defense  of  the  undoubted  rights  of  our 


GREAT  SPEECHES  159 

people.  We  wish  to  serve  no  selfish  ends.  We  seek  merely 
to  stand  true  alike  in  thought  and  in  action  to  the  imme- 
morial principles  of  our  people  which  I  sought  to  express 
in  my  address  to  the  Senate  only  two  weeks  ago, — seek 
merely  to  vindicate  our  right  to  liberty  and  justice  and 
an  unmolested  life.  These  are  the  bases  of  peace,  not 
war.  God  grant  we  may  not  be  challenged  to  defend  them 
by  acts  of  wilful  injustice  on  the  part  of  the  Government 
of  Germany ! 


160  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

THE  WAR  CLOUDS  THICKEN 

Mr.  Wilson's  Address  to  Congress,  February  26,  1917 
Asking  Power  to  Arm  Ships 

GENTLEMEN  OP  THE  CONGRESS  : 

I  have  again  asked  the  privilege  of  addressing  you 
because  we  are  moving  through  critical  times  during 
which  it  seems  to  me  to  be  my  duty  to  keep  in  close  touch 
with  the  Houses  of  Congress,  so  that  neither  counsel  nor 
action  shall  run  at  cross  purposes  between  us. 

On  the  third  of  February  I  officially  informed  you  of 
the  sudden  and  unexpected  action  of  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  in  declaring  its  intention  to  disregard 
the  promises  it  had  made  to  this  Government  in  April  last 
and  undertake  immediate  submarine  operations  against 
all  commerce,  whether  of  belligerents  or  of  neutrals,  that 
should  seek  to  approach  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  the 
Atlantic  coasts  of  Europe,  or  the  harbors  of  the  eastern 
Mediterranean,  and  to  conduct  those  operations  without 
regard  to  the  established  restrictions  of  international 
practice,  without  regard  to  any  considerations  of  human- 
ity even  which  might  interfere  with  their  object.  That 
policy  was  forthwith  put  into  practice.  It  has  now  been 
in  active  execution  for  nearly  four  weeks. 

Its  practical  results  are  not  yet  fully  disclosed.  The 
commerce  of  other  neutral  nations  is  suffering  severely, 
but  not,  perhaps,  very  much  more  severely  than  it  was 
already  suffering  before  the  first  of  February,  when  the 
new  policy  of  the  Imperial  Government  was  put  into 
operation.  "We  have  asked  the  cooperation  of  the  other 
neutral  governments  to  prevent  these  depredations,  but  so 
far  none  of  them  has  thought  it  wise  to  join  us  in  any 
common  course  of  action.  Our  own  commerce  has  suf- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  161 

fered,  is  suffering,  rather  in  apprehension  than  in  fact, 
rather  because  so  many  of  our  ships  are  timidly  keeping 
to  their  home  ports  than  because  American  ships  have 
been  sunk. 

Two  American  vessels  have  been  sunk,  the  Housatonic 
and  the  Lyman  M.  Law.  The  case  of  the  Housaionic, 
which  was  carrying  foodstuffs  consigned  to  a  London  firm, 
was  essentially  like  the  case  of  the  Frye,  in  which,  it  will 
be  recalled,  the  German  Government  admitted  its  liability 
for  damages,  and  the  lives  of  the  crew,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Frye,  were  safeguarded  with  reasonable  care.  The  case 
of  the  Law,  which  was  carrying  lemon-box  staves  to 
Palermo,  disclosed  a  ruthlessness  of  method  which  de- 
serves grave  condemnation,  but  was  accompanied  by  no 
circumstances  which  might  not  have  been  expected  at 
any  time  in  connection  with  the  use  of  the  submarine 
against  merchantmen  as  the  German  Government  has 
used  it. 

In  sum,  therefore,  the  situation  we  find  ourselves  in 
with  regard  to  the  actual  conduct  of  the  German  sub- 
marine warfare  against  commerce  and  its  effects  upon  our 
own  ships  and  people  is  substantially  the  same  that  it 
was  when  I  addressed  you  on  the  third  of  February, 
except  for  the  tying  up  of  our  shipping  in  our  own  ports 
because  of  the  unwillingness  of  our  shipowners  to  risk 
their  vessels  at  sea  without  insurance  or  adequate  protec- 
tion, and  the  very  serious  congestion  of  our  commerce 
which  has  resulted,  a  congestion  which  is  growing  rapidly 
more  and  more  serious  every  day.  This  in  itself  might 
presently  accomplish,  in  effect,  what  the  new  German  sub- 
marine orders  were  meant  to  accomplish,  so  far  as  we 
are  concerned.  We  can  only  say,  therefore,  that  the  overt 
act  which  I  have  ventured  to  hope  the  German  command- 
ers would  in  fact  avoid  has  not  occurred. 


162  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

But,  while  this  is  happily  true,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
there  have  been  certain  additional  indications  and  expres- 
sions of  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  German  press  and  the 
German  authorities  which  have  increased  rather  than 
lessened  the  impression  that,  if  our  ships  and  our  people 
are  spared,  it  will  be  because  of  fortunate  circumstances 
or  because  the  commanders  of  the  German  submarines 
which  they  may  happen  to  encounter  exercise  an  unex- 
pected discretion  and  restraint  rather  than  because  of  the 
instructions  under  which  those  commanders  are  acting. 
It  would  be  foolish  to  deny  that  the  situation  is  fraught 
with  the  gravest  possibilities  and  dangers.  No  thought- 
ful man  can  fail  to  see  that  the  necessity  for  definite 
action  may  come  at  any  time,  if  we  are  in  fact,  and  not 
in  word  merely,  to  defend  our  elementary  rights  as  a 
neutral  nation.  It  would  be  most  imprudent  to  be 
unprepared. 

I  cannot  in  such  circumstances  be  unmindful  of  the 
fact  that  the  expiration  of  the  term  of  the  present  Con- 
gress is  immediately  at  hand,  by  constitutional  limitation ; 
and  that  it  would  in  all  likelihood  require  an  unusual 
length  of  time  to  assemble  and  organize  the  Congress 
which  is  to  succeed  it.  I  feel  that  I  ought,  in  view  of 
that  fact,  to  obtain  from  you  full  and  immediate  assurance 
of  the  authority  which  I  may  need  at  any  moment  to  exer- 
cise. No  doubt  I  already  possess  that  authority  without 
special  warrant  of  law,  by  the  plain  implication  of  my 
constitutional  duties  and  powers;  but  I  prefer,  in  the 
present  circumstances,  not  to  act  upon  general  implica- 
tion. I  wish  to  feel  that  the  authority  and  the  power  of 
the  Congress  are  behind  me  in  whatever  it  may  become 
necessary  for  me  to  do.  We  are  jointly  the  servants  of  the 
people  and  must  act  together  and  in  their  spirit,  so  far 
as  we  can  divine  and  interpret  it. 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  163 

No  one  doubts  what  it  is  our  duty  to  do.  We  must 
defend  our  commerce  and  the  lives  of  our  people  in  the 
midst  of  the  present  trying  circumstances,  with  discretion 
but  with  clear  and  steadfast  purpose.  Only  the  method 
and  the  extent  remain  to  be  chosen,  upon  the  occasion, 
if  occasion  should  indeed  arise.  Since  it  has  unhappily 
proved  impossible  to  safeguard  our  neutral  rights  by 
diplomatic  means  against  the  unwarranted  infringements 
they  are  suffering  at  the  hands  of  Germany,  there  may 
be  no  recourse  but  to  armed  neutrality,  which  we  shall 
know  how  to  maintain  and  for  which  there  is  abundant 
American  precedent. 

It  is  devoutly  to  be  hoped  that  it  will  not  be  necessary 
to  put  armed  force  anywhere  into  action.  The  American 
people  do  not  desire  it,  and  our  desire  is  not  different 
from  theirs.  I  am  sure  that  they  will  understand  the 
spirit  in  which  I  am  now  acting,  the  purpose  I  hold  near- 
est my  heart  and  would  wish  to  exhibit  in  everything  I  do. 
I  am  anxious  that  the  people  of  the  nations  at  war  also 
should  understand  and  not  mistrust  us.  I  hope  that  I 
need  give  no  further  proofs  and  assurances  than  I  have 
already  given  throughout  nearly  three  years  of  anxious 
patience  that  I  am  the  friend  of  peace  and  mean  to  pre- 
serve it  for  America  so  long  as  I  am  able.  I  am  not  now 
proposing  or  contemplating  war  or  any  steps  that  need 
lead  to  it.  I  merely  request  that  you  will  accord  me  .by 
your  own  vote  and  definite  bestowal  the  means  and  the 
authority  to  safeguard  in  practice  the  right  of  a  great 
people  who  are  at  peace  and  who  are  desirous  of  exercis- 
ing none  but  the  rights  of  peace  to  follow  the  pursuits 
of  peace  in  quietness  and  good  will, — rights  recognized 
time  out  of  mind  by  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world. 
No  course  of  my  choosing  or  of  theirs  will  lead  to  war.  "War 
can  come  only  by  the  wilful  acts  and  aggressions  of  others. 


164  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

You  will  understand  why  I  can  make  no  definite  pro- 
posals or  forecasts  of  action  now  and  must  ask  for  your 
supporting  authority  in  the  most  general  terms.  The 
form  in  which  action  may  become  necessary  cannot  yet 
be  foreseen.  I  believe  that  the  people  will  be  willing  to 
trust  me  to  act  with  restraint,  with  prudence,  and  in  the 
true  spirit  of  amity  and  good  faith  that  they  have  them- 
selves displayed  throughout  these  trying  months;  and 
it  is  in  that  belief  that  I  request  that  you  will  authorize 
me  to  supply  our  merchant  ships  with  defensive  arms, 
should  that  become  necessary,  and  with  the  means  of 
using  them,  and  to  employ  any  other  instrumentalities 
or  methods  that  may  be  necessary  and  adequate  to  protect 
our  ships  and  our  people  in  their  legitimate  and  peace- 
ful pursuits  on  the  seas.  I  request  also  that  you  will  grant 
me  at  the  same  time,  along  with  the  powers  I  ask,  a  suffi- 
cient credit  to  enable  me  to  provide  adequate  means  of 
protection  where  they  are  lacking,  including  adequate 
insurance  against  the  present  war  risks. 

I  have  spoken  of  our  commerce  and  of  the  legitimate 
errands  of  our  people  on  the  seas,  but  you  will  not  be  mis- 
led as  to  my  main  thought,  the  thought  that  lies  beneath 
these  phrases  and  gives  them  dignity  and  weight.  It  is 
not  of  material  interests  merely  that  we  are  thinking.  It 
is,  rather,  of  fundamental  human  rights,  chief  of  all  the 
right  of  life  itself.  I  am  thinking,  not  only  of  the  rights 
of  Americans  to  go  and  come  about  their  proper  business 
by  way  of  the  sea,  but  also  of  something  much  deeper, 
much  more  fundamental  than  that.  I  am  thinking  of 
those  rights  of  humanity  without  which  there  is  no  civili- 
zation. My  theme  is  of  those  great  principles  of  com- 
passion and  of  protection  which  mankind  has  sought  to 
throw  about  human  lives,  the  lives  of  noncombatants,  the 
lives  of  men  who  are  peacefully  at  work  keeping  the  indus- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  165 

trial  processes  of  the  world  quick  and  vital,  the  lives  of 
women  and  children  and  of  those  who  supply  the  labor 
which  ministers  to  their  sustenance.  We  are  speaking 
of  no  selfish  material  rights  but  of  rights  which  our  hearts 
support  and  whose  foundation  is  that  righteous  passion 
for  justice  upon  which  all  law,  all  structures  alike  of 
family,  of  state,  and  of  mankind  must  rest,  as  upon  the 
ultimate  base  of  our  existence  and  our  liberty.  I  can- 
not imagine  any  man  with  American  principles  at  his 
heart  hesitating  to  defend  these  things. 


166  PKESIDENT  WILSON'S 

SECOND    INAUGURAL   ADDRESS,    1917 

[The  date  of  Mr.  Wilson's  second  accession  to  the  Presidency 
of  the  United  States,  March  4,  1917,  falling  on  a  Sunday,  he  took 
the  oath  of  office  privately  on  that  day,  and  delivered  his  inaugural 
address  next  day,  March  5,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  throng 
gathered  outside  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  as  follows:] 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

The  four  years  which  have  elapsed  since  last  I  stood 
in  this  place  have  been  crowded  with  counsel  and  action 
of  the  most  vital  interest  and  consequence.  Perhaps  no 
equal  period  in  our  history  has  been  so  fruitful  of  im- 
portant reforms  in  our  economic  and  industrial  life  or 
so  full  of  significant  changes  in  the  spirit  and  purpose 
of  our  political  action.  We  have  sought  very  thought- 
fully to  set  our  house  in  order,  correct  the  grosser  errors 
and  abuses  of  our  industrial  life,  liberate  and  quicken  the 
processes  of  our  national  genius  and  energy,  and  lift 
our  politics  to  a  broader  view  of  the  people's  essential 
interests.  It  is  a  record  of  singular  variety  and  singular 
distinction.  But  I  shall  not  attempt  to  review  it.  It 
speaks  for  itself  and  will  be  of  increasing  influence  as  the 
years  go  by.  This  is  not  the  time  for  retrospect.  It  is 
time,  rather,  to  speak  our  thoughts  and  purposes  concern- 
ing the  present  and  the  immediate  future. 

Although  we  have  centered  counsel  and  action  with 
such  unusual  concentration  and  success  upon  the  great 
problems  of  domestic  legislation  to  which  we  addressed 
ourselves  four  years  ago,  other  matters  have  more  and 
more  forced  themselves  upon  our  attention,  matters  lying 
outside  our  own  life  as  a  nation  and  over  which  we  had 
no  control,  but  which,  despite  our  wish  to  keep  free  of 
them,  have  drawn  us  more  and  more  irresistibly  into 
their  own  current  and  influence. 

It  has  been  impossible  to  avoid  them.     They  have 


GREAT  SPEECHES  16? 

affected  the  life  of  the  whole  world.  They  have  shaken 
men  everywhere  with  a  passion  and  an  apprehension  they 
never  knew  before.  It  has  been  hard  to  preserve  calm 
counsel  while  the  thought  of  our  own  people  swayed  this 
way  and  that  under  their  influence.  We  are,  a  composite 
and  cosmopolitan  people.  We  are  of  the  blood  of  all  the 
nations  that  are  at  war.  The  currents  of  our  thoughts 
as  well  as  the  currents  of  our  trade  run  quick  at  all  sea- 
sons back  and  forth  between  us  and  them.  The  war 
inevitably  set  its  mark  from  the  first  alike  upon  our 
minds,  our  industries,  our  commerce,  our  politics,  and 
our  social  action.  To  be  indifferent  to  it  or  independent 
of  it  was  out  of  the  question. 

And  yet  all  the  while  we  have  been  conscious  that  we 
were  not  part  of  it.  In  that  consciousness,  despite  many 
divisions,  we  have  drawn  closer  together.  We  have  been 
deeply  wronged  upon  the  seas,  but  we  have  not  wished  to 
wrong  or  injure  in  return ;  have  retained  throughout  the 
consciousness  of  standing  in  some  sort  apart,  intent  upon 
an  interest  that  transcended  the  immediate  issues  of  the 
war  itself.  As  some  of  the  injuries  done  us  have  become 
intolerable  we  have  still  been  clear  that  we  wished  nothing 
for  ourselves  that  we  were  not  ready  to  demand  for  all 
mankind, — fair  dealing,  justice,  the  freedom  to  live  and 
be  at  ease  against  organized  wrong. 

It  is  in  this  spirit  and  with  this  thought  that  we  have 
grown  more  and  more  aware,  more  and  more  certain  that 
the  part  we  wished  to  play  was  the  part  of  those  who 
mean  to  vindicate  and  fortify  peace.  We  have  been 
obliged  to  arm  ourselves  to  make  good  our  claim  to  a 
certain  minimum  of  right  and  of  freedom  of  action.  We 
stand  firm  in  armed  neutrality  since  it  seems  that  in  no 
other  way  we  can  demonstrate  what  it  is  we  insist  upon 
and  cannot  forego.  We  may  even  be  drawn  on,  by  cir- 


168  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

cumstanees,  not  by  our  own  purpose  or  desire,  to  a  more 
active  assertion  of  our  rights  as  we  see  them  and  a  more 
immediate  association  with  the  great  struggle  itself.  But 
nothing  will  alter  our  thought  or  our  purpose.  They  are 
too  clear  to  be  obscured.  They  are  too  deeply  rooted  in 
the  principles  of  our  national  life  to  be  altered.  We 
desire  neither  conquest  nor  advantage.  We  wish  nothing 
that  can  be  had  only  at  the  cost  of  another  people.  We 
have  always  professed  unselfish  purpose  and  we  covet  the 
opportunity  to  prove  that  our  professions  are  sincere. 

There  are  many  things  still  to  do  at  home,  to  clarify 
our  own  politics  and  give  new  vitality  to  the  industrial 
processes  of  our  own  life,  and  we  shall  do  them  as  time 
and  opportunity  serve;  but  we  realize  that  the  greatest 
things  that  remain  to  be  done  must  be  done  with  the  whole 
world  for  stage  and  in  cooperation  with  the  wide  and  uni- 
versal forces  of  mankind,  and  we  are  making  our  spirits 
ready  for  those  things.  They  will  follow  in  the  immediate 
wake  of  the  war  itself  and  will  set  civilization  up  again. 
We  are  provincials  no  longer.  The  tragical  events  of  the 
thirty  months  of  vital  turmoil  through  which  we  have 
just  passed  have  made  us  citizens  of  the  world.  There 
can  be  no  turning  back.  Our  own  fortunes  as  a  nation 
are  involved,  whether  we  would  have  it  so  or  not. 

And  yet  we  are  not  the  less  Americans  on  that  account. 
We  shall  be  the  more  American  if  we  but  remain  true  to 
the  principles  in  which  we  have  been  bred.  They  are  not 
the  principles  of  a  province  or  of  a  single  continent.  We 
have  known  and  boasted  all  along  that  they  were  the 
principles  of  a  liberated  mankind.  These,  therefore,  are 
the  things  we  shall  stand  for,  whether  in  war  or  in  peace : 

That  all  nations  are  equally  interested  in  the  peace  of 
the  world  and  in  the  political  stability  of  free  peoples, 
and  equally  responsible  for  their  maintenance; 


GREAT  SPEECHES  1G9 

That  the  essential  principle  of  peace  is  the  actual  equal- 
ity of  nations  in  all  matters  of  right  or  privilege ; 

That  peace  cannot  securely  or  justly  rest  upon  an 
armed  balance  of  power; 

That  governments  derive  all  their  just  powers  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed  and  that  no  other  powers  should 
be  supported  by  the  common  thought,  purpose,  or  power 
of  the  family  of  nations ; 

That  the  seas  should  be  equally  free  and  safe  for  the 
use  of  all  peoples,  under  rules  set  up  by  common  agree- 
ment and  consent,  and  that,  so  far  as  practicable,  they 
should  be  accessible  to  all  upon  equal  terms ; 

That  national  armaments  should  be  limited  to  the  neces- 
sities of  national  order  and  domestic  safety; 

That  the  community  of  interest  and  of  power  upon 
which  peace  must  henceforth  depend  imposes  upon  each 
nation  the  duty  of  seeing  to  it  that  all  influences  proceed- 
ing from  its  own  citizens  meant  to  encourage  or  assist 
revolution  in  other  states  should  be  sternly  and  effectually 
suppressed  and  prevented. 

I  need  not  argue  these  principles  to  you,  my  fellow- 
countrymen  :  they  are  your  own,  part  and  parcel  of  your 
own  thinking  and  your  own  motive  in  affairs.  They 
spring  up  native  amongst  us.  Upon  this  as  a  platform 
of  purpose  and  of  action  we  can  stand  together. 

And  it  is  imperative  that  we  should  stand  together. 
We  are  being  forged  into  a  new  unity  amidst  the  fires  that 
now  blaze  throughout  the  world.  In  their  ardent  heat 
we  shall,  in  God's  providence,  let  us  hope,  be  purged  of 
faction  and  division,  purified  of  the  errant  humors  of 
party  and  of  private  interest,  and  shall  stand  forth  in  the 
days  to  come  with  a  new  dignity  of  national  pride  and 
spirit.  Let  each  man  see  to  it  that  the  dedication  is  in  his 


170  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

own  heart,  the  high  purpose  of  the  Nation  in  his  own 
mind,  ruler  of  his  own  will  and  desire. 

I  stand  here  and  have  taken  the  high  and  solemn  oath 
to  which  you  have  been  audience  because  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  chosen  me  for  this  august  dele- 
gation of  power  and  have  by  their  gracious  judgment 
named  me  their  leader  in  affairs.  I  know  now  what  the 
task  means.  I  realize  to  the  full  the  responsibility  which 
it  involves.  I  pray  God  I  may  be  given  the  wisdom  and 
the  prudence  to  do  my  duty  in  the  true  spirit  of  this 
great  people.  I  am  their  servant  and  can  succeed  only 
as  they  sustain  and  guide  me  by  their  confidence  and 
their  counsel.  The  thing  I  shall  count  upon,  the  thing 
without  which  neither  counsel  nor  action  will  avail,  is  the 
unity  of  America, — an  America  united  in  feeling,  in 
purpose,  and  in  its  vision  of  duty,  of  opportunity,  and 
of  service.  We  are  to  beware  of  all  men  who  would  turn 
the  tasks  and  the  necessities  of  the  Nation  to  their  own 
private  profit  or  use  them  for  the  building  up  of  private 
power ;  beware  that  no  faction  or  disloyal  intrigue  break 
the  harmony  or  embarrass  the  spirit  of  our  people ;  beware 
that  our  Government  be  kept  pure  and  incorrupt  in  all 
its  parts.  United  alike  in  the  conception  of  our  duty 
and  in  the  high  resolve  to  perform  it  in  the  face  of  all 
men,  let  us  dedicate  ourselves  to  the  great  task  to  which 
we  must  now  set  our  hand.  For  myself  I  beg  your  toler- 
ance, your  countenance,  and  your  united  aid.  The  shad- 
ows that  now  lie  dark  upon  our  path  will  soon  be  dis- 
pelled and  we  shall  walk  with  the  light  all  about  us  if 
we  be  but  true  to  ourselves, — to  ourselves  as  we  have 
wished  to  be  known  in  the  counsels  of  the  world  and  in 
the  thought  of  all  those  who  love  liberty  and  justice  and 
the  right  exalted. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  171 

ADVICE  TO  NEW  CITIZENS 

The  President's  Address  to  Newly  Naturalized  Ameri- 
cans, Philadelphia,  May  10,  1915 

MR.  MAYOR,  FELLOW  CITIZENS  : 

It  warms  my  heart  that  you  should  give  me  such  a 
reception;  but  it  is  not  of  myself  that  I  wish  to  think 
tonight,  but  of  those  who  have  just  become  citizens  of  the 
United  States. 

This  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  which  experiences 
this  constant  and  repeated  rebirth.  Other  countries  de- 
pend upon  the  multiplication  of  their  own  native  people. 
This  country  is  constantly  drinking  strength  out  of  new 
sources  by  the  voluntary  association  with  it  of  great 
bodies  of  strong  men  and  forward-looking  women  out  of 
other  lands.  And  so  by  the  gift  of  the  free  will  of  inde- 
pendent people  it  is  being  constantly  renewed  from  gen- 
eration to  generation  by  the  same  process  by  which  it  was 
originally  created.  It  is  as  if  humanity  had  determined 
to  see  to  it  that  this  great  Nation,  founded  for  the  benefit 
of  humanity,  should  not  lack  for  the  allegiance  of  the 
people  of  the  world. 

You  have  just  taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States.  Of  allegiance  to  whom  ?  Of  allegiance  to  no  one, 
unless  it  be  God — certainly  not  of  allegiance  to  those  who 
temporarily  represent  this  great  Government.  You  have 
taken  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  a  great  ideal,  to  a  great 
body  of  principles,  to  a  great  hope  of  the  human  race. 
You  have  said,  "We  are  going  to  America  not  only  to 
earn  a  living,  not  only  to  seek  the  things  which  it  was 
more  difficult  to  obtain  where  we  were  born,  but  to  help 
forward  the  great  enterprises  of  the  human  spirit — to 
let  men  know  that  everywhere  in  the  world  there  are  men 


172  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

who  will  cross  strange  oceans  and  go  where  a  speech  is 
spoken  which  is  alien  to  them  if  they  can  but  satisfy  their 
quest  for  what  their  spirits  crave;  knowing  that  what- 
ever the  speech  there  is  but  one  longing  and  utterance 
of  the  human  heart,  and  that  is  for  liberty  and  justice. ' ' 
And  while  you  bring  all  countries  with  you,  you  come 
with  a  purpose  of  leaving  all  other  countries  behind  you 
— bringing  what  is  best  of  their  spirit,  but  not  looking 
over  your  shoulders  and  seeking  to  perpetuate  what  you 
intended  to  leave  behind  in  them.  I  certainly  would  not 
be  one  even  to  suggest  that  a  man  cease  to  love  the  home 
of  his  birth  and  the  nation  of  his  origin — these  things 
are  very  sacred  and  ought  not  to  be  put  out  of  our  hearts 
— but  it  is  one  thing  to  love  the  place  where  you  were 
born  and  it  is  another  thing  to  dedicate  yourself  to  the 
place  to  which  you  go.  You  can  not  dedicate  yourself  to 
America  unless  you  become  in  every  respect  and  with 
every  purpose  of  your  will  thorough  Americans.  You 
can  not  become  thorough  Americans  if  you  think  of  your- 
selves in  groups.  America  does  not  consist  of  groups.  A 
man  who  thinks  of  himself  as  belonging  to  a  particular 
national  group  in  America  has  not  yet  become  an  Ameri- 
can, and  the  man  who  goes  among  you  to  trade  upon  your 
nationality  is  no  worthy  son  to  live  under  the  Stars  and 
Stripes. 

My  urgent  advice  to  you  would  be,  not  only  always  to 
think  first  of  America,  but  always,  also,  to  think  first  of 
humanity.  You  do  not  love  humanity  if  you  seek  to 
divide  humanity  into  jealous  camps.  Humanity  can  be 
welded  together  only  by  love,  by  sympathy,  by  justice,  not 
by  jealousy  and  hatred.  I  am  sorry  for  the  man  who  seeks 
to  make  personal  capital  out  of  the  passions  of  his  fellow- 
men.  He  has  lost  the  touch  and  ideal  of  America,  for 
America  was  created  to  unite  mankind  by  those  passions 


GREAT  SPEECHES  173 

which  lift  and  not  by  the  passions  which  separate  and 
debase.  We  came  to  America,  either  ourselves  or  in  the 
persons  of  our  ancestors,  to  better  the  ideals  of  men,  to 
make  them  see  finer  things  than  they  had  seen  before, 
to  get  rid  of  the  things  that  divide  and  to  make  sure  of 
the  things  that  unite.  It  was  but  an  historical  accident  no 
doubt  that  this  great  country  was  called  the  "  United 
States";  yet  I  am  very  thankful  that  it  has  that  word 
''United"  in  its  title,  and  the  man  who  seeks  to  divide 
man  from  man,  group  from  group,  interest  from  interest 
in  this  great  Union  is  striking  at  its  very  heart. 

It  is  a  very  interesting  circumstance  to  me,  in  thinking1 
of  those  of  you  who  have  just  sworn  allegiance  to  this 
great  Government,  that  you  were  drawn  across  the  ocean 
by  some  beckoning  finger  of  hope,  by  some  belief,  by  some 
vision  of  a  new  kind  of  justice,  by  some  expectation  of  a 
better  kind  of  life.  No  doubt  you  have  been  disappointed 
in  some  of  us.  Some  of  us  are  very  disappointing.  No 
doubt  you  have  found  that  justice  in  the  United  States 
goes  only  with  a  pure  heart  and  a  right  purpose  as  it  does 
everywhere  else  in  the  world.  No  doubt  what  you  found 
here  did  not  seem  touched  for  you,  after  all,  with  the 
complete  beauty  of  the  ideal  which  you  had  conceived 
beforehand.  But  remember  this:  If  we  had  grown  at 
all  poor  in  the  ideal,  you  brought  some  of  it  with  you. 
A  man  does  not  go  out  to  seek  the  thing  that  is  not  in 
him.  A  man  does  not  hope  for  the  thing  that  he  does  not 
believe  in,  and  if  some  of  us  have  forgotten  what  America 
believed  in,  you,  at  any  rate,  imported  in  your  own  hearts 
a  renewal  of  the  belief.  That  is  the  reason  that  I,  for 
one,  make  you  welcome.  If  I  have  in  any  degree  for- 
gotten what  America  was  intended  for,  I  will  thank  God 
if  you  will  remind  me.  I  was  born  in  America.  You 
dreamed  dreams  of  what  America  was  to  be,  and  I  hope 


174  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

you  brought  the  dreams  with  you.  No  man  that  does  not 
see  visions  will  ever  realize  any  high  hope  or  undertake 
any  high  enterprise.  Just  because  you  brought  dreams 
with  you,  America  is  more  likely  to  realize  dreams  such 
as  you  brought.  You  are  enriching  us  if  you  came  ex- 
pecting us  to  be  better  than  we  are. 

See,  my  friends,  what  that  means.  It  means  that 
Americans  must  have  a  consciousness  different  from  the 
consciousness  of  every  other  nation  in  the  world.  I  am 
not  saying  this  with  even  the  slightest  thought  of  criti- 
cism of  other  nations.  You  know  how  it  is  with  a  family. 
A  family  gets  centered  on  itself  if  it  is  not  careful  and  is 
less  interested  in  the  neighbors  than  it  is  in  its  own  mem- 
bers. So  a  nation  that  is  not  constantly  renewed  out  of 
new  sources  is  apt  to  have  the  narrowness  and  prejudice 
of  a  family ;  whereas,  America  must  have  this  conscious- 
ness, that  on  all  sides  it  touches  elbows  and  touches  hearts 
with  all  the  nations  of  mankind.  The  example  of  Amer- 
ica must  be  a  special  example.  The  example  of  America 
must  be  the  example  not  merely  of  peace  because  it  will 
not  fight,  but  of  peace  because  peace  is  the  healing  and 
elevating  influence  of  the  world  and  strife  is  not.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  a  man  being  too  proud  to  fight.  There 
is  such  a  thing  as  a  nation  being  so  right  that  it  does  not 
need  to  convince  others  by  force  that  it  is  right. 

You  have  come  into  this  great  Nation  voluntarily  seek- 
ing something  that  we  have  to  give,  and  all  that  we  have 
to  give  is  this :  We  can  not  exempt  you  from  work.  No 
man  is  exempt  from  work  anywhere  in  the  world.  We 
can  not  exempt  you  from  the  strife  and  the  heartbreak- 
ing burden  of  the  struggle  of  the  day — that  is  common  to 
mankind  everywhere;  we  can  not  exempt  you  from  the 
loads  that  you  must  carry.  We  can  only  make  them  light 
by  the  spirit  in  which  they  are  carried.  That  is  the 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  175 

spirit  of  hope,  it  is  the  spirit  of  liberty,  it  is  the  spirit  of 
justice. 

"When  I  was  asked,  therefore,  by  the  Mayor  and  the 
committee  that  accompanied  him  to  come  up  from  Wash- 
ington to  meet  this  great  company  of  newly  admitted 
citizens,  I  could  not  decline  the  invitation.  I  ought  not 
to  be  away  from  Washington,  and  yet  I  feel  that  it  has 
renewed  my  spirit  as  an  American  to  be  here.  In  Wash- 
ington men  tell  you  so  many  things  every  day  that  are  not 
so,  and  I  like  to  come  and  stand  in  the  presence  of  a  great 
body  of  my  fellow-citizens,  whether  they  have  been  my 
fellow-citizens  a  long  time  or  a  short  time,  and  drink,  as 
it  were,  out  of  the  common  fountains  with  them  and  go 
back  feeling  what  you  have  so  generously  given  me — the 
sense  of  your  support  and  of  the  living  vitality  in  your 
hearts  of  the  great  ideals  which  have  made  America  the 
hope  of  the  world. 


176  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

FIRST  ADDRESS  TO  CONGRESS 

Delivered  at  a  Joint  Session  of  the  Two  Houses, 
April  8,  1913 

MR.  SPEAKER,  MR.  PRESIDENT,  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CON- 
GRESS: 

I  am  very  glad  indeed  to  have  this  opportunity  to  ad- 
dress the  two  Houses  directly  and  to  verify  for  myself 
the  impression  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  is 
a  person,  not  a  mere  department  of  the  Government  hail- 
ing Congress  from  some  isolated  island  of  jealous  power, 
sending  messages,  not  speaking  naturally  and  with  his 
own  voice — that  he  is  a  human  being  trying  to  co-oper- 
ate with  other  human  beings  in  a  common  service. 
After  this  pleasant  experience  I  shall  feel  quite  normal 
in  all  our  dealings  with  one  another. 

I  have  called  the  Congress  together  in  extraordinary 
session  because  a  duty  was  laid  upon  the  party  now  in 
power  at  the  recent  elections  which  it  ought  to  perform 
promptly,  in  order  that  the  burden  carried  by  the  people 
under  existing  law  may  be  lightened  as  soon  as  possible 
and  in  order,  also,  that  the  business  interests  of  the 
country  may  not  be  kept  too  long  in  suspense  as  to  what 
the  fiscal  changes  are  to  be  to  which  they  will  be  re- 
quired to  adjust  themselves.  It  is  clear  to  the  whole 
country  that  the  tariff  duties  must  be  altered.  They 
must  be  changed  to  meet  the  radical  alteration  in  the 
conditions  of  our  economic  life  which  the  country  has 
witnessed  within  the  last  generation.  While  the  whole 
face  and  method  of  our  industrial  and  commercial  life 
were  being  changed  beyond  recognition  the  tariff  sched- 
ules have  remained  what  they  were  before  the  change 
began,  or  have  moved  in  the  direction  they  were  given 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  177 

when  no  large  circumstance  of  our  industrial  develop- 
ment was  what  it  is  to-day.  Our  task  is  to  square  them 
with  the  actual  facts.  The  sooner  that  is  done  the  sooner 
we  shall  escape  from  suffering  from  the  facts  and  the 
sooner  our  men  of  business  will  be  free  to  thrive  by  the 
law  of  nature  (the  nature  of  free  business)  instead  of 
by  the  law  of  legislation  and  artificial  arrangement. 

We  have  seen  tariff  legislation  wander  very  far  afield 
in  our  day — very  far  indeed  from  the  field  in  which  our 
prosperity  might  have  had  a  normal  growth  and  stimula- 
tion. No  one  who  looks  the  facts  squarely  in  the  face 
or  knows  anything  that  lies  beneath  the  surface  of  action 
can  fail  to  perceive  the  principles  upon  which  recent 
tariff  legislation  has  been  based.  We  long  ago  passed 
beyond  the  modest  notion  of  "protecting"  the  industries 
of  the  country  and  moved  boldly  forward  to  the  idea  that 
they  were  entitled  to  the  direct  patronage  of  the  Govern- 
ment. For  a  long  time — a  time  so  long  that  the  men  now 
active  in  public  policy  hardly  remember  the  conditions 
that  preceded  it — we  have  sought  in  our  tariff  schedules 
to  give  each  group  of  manufacturers  or  producers  what 
they  themselves  thought  that  they  needed  in  order  to 
maintain  a  practically  exclusive  market  as  against  the 
rest  of  the  world.  Consciously  or  unconsciously,  we  have 
built  up  a  set  of  privileges  and  exemptions  from  competi- 
tion behind  which  it  was  easy  by  any,  even  the  crudest, 
forms  of  combination  to  organize  monopoly ;  until  at  last 
nothing  is  normal,  nothing  is  obliged  to  stand  the  tests  of 
efficiency  and  economy,  in  our  world  of  big  business,  but 
everything  thrives  by  concerted  arrangement.  Only 
new  principles  of  action  will  save  us  from  a  final  hard 
crystallization  of  monopoly  and  a  complete  loss  of  the 
influences  that  quicken  enterprise  and  keep  independent 
energy  alive. 


178  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

It  is  plain  what  those  principles  must  be.  We  must 
abolish  everything  that  bears  even  the  semblance  of  privi- 
lege or  of  any  kind  of  artificial  advantage,  and  put  our 
business  men  and  producers  under  the  stimulation  of  a 
constant  necessity  to  be  efficient,  economical,  and  enter- 
prising, masters  of  competitive  supremacy,  better  work- 
ers and  merchants  than  any  in  the  world.  Aside  from  the 
duties  laid  upon  articles  which  we  do  not,  and  probably 
can  not,  produce,  therefore,  and  the  duties  laid  upon 
luxuries  and  merely  for  the  sake  of  the  revenues  they 
yield,  the  object  of  the  tariff  duties  henceforth  laid  must 
be  effective  competition,  the  whetting  of  American  wits  by 
contest  with  the  wits  of  the  rest  of  the  world. 

It  would  be  unwise  to  move  toward  this  end  headlong, 
with  reckless  haste,  or  with  strokes  that  cut  at  the  very 
root  of  what  has  grown  up  amongst  us  by  long  process 
and  at  our  own  invitation.  It  does  not  alter  a  thing  to 
upset  it  and  break  it  and  deprive  it  of  a  chance  to  change. 
It  destroys  it.  We  must  make  changes  in  our  fiscal  laws, 
in  our  fiscal  system,  whose  object  is  development,  a  more 
free  and  wholesome  development,  not  revolution  or  upset 
or  confusion.  We  must  build  up  trade,  especially  foreign 
trade.  We  need  the  outlet  and  the  enlarged  field  of 
energy  more  than  we  ever  did  before.  We  must  build 
up  industry  as  well,  and  must  adopt  freedom  in  the  place 
of  artificial  stimulation  only  so  far  as  it  will  build,  not 
pull  down.  In  dealing  with  the  tariff  the  method  by 
which  this  may  be  done  will  be  a  matter  of  judgment, 
exercised  item  by  item.  To  some  not  accustomed  to  the 
excitements  and  responsibilities  of  greater  freedom  our 
methods  may  in  some  respects  and  at  some  points  seem 
heroic,  but  remedies  may  be  heroic  and  yet  be  remedies. 
It  is  our  business  to  make  sure  that  they  are  genuine 
remedies.  Our  object  is  clear.  If  our  motive  is  above 


GREAT  SPEECHES  179 

just  challenge  and  only  occasional  error  of  judgment  is 
chargeable  against  us,  we  shall  be  fortunate. 

"We  are  called  upon  to  render  the  country  a  great  serv- 
ice in  more  matters  than  one.  Our  responsibility  should 
be  met  and  our  methods  should  be  thorough,  as  thorough 
as  moderate  and  well  considered,  based  upon  the  facts 
as  they  are,  and  not  worked  out  as  if  we  were  beginners. 
We  are  to  deal  with  the  facts  of  our  own  day,  with  the 
facts  of  no  other,  and  to  make  laws  which  square  with 
those  facts.  It  is  best,  indeed  it  is  necessary,  to  begin  with 
the  tariff.  I  will  urge  nothing  upon  you  now  at  the  open- 
ing of  your  session  which  can  obscure  that  first  object 
or  divert  our  energies  from  that  clearly  defined  duty.  At 
a  later  time  I  may  take  the  liberty  of  calling  your  atten- 
tion to  reforms  which  should  press  close  upon  the  heels 
of  the  tariff  changes,  if  not  accompany  them,  of  which 
the  chief  is  the  reform  of  our  banking  and  currency  laws ; 
but  just  now  I  refrain.  For  the  present,  I  put  these  mat- 
ters on  one  side  and  think  only  of  this  one  thing — of 
the  changes  in  our  fiscal  system  which  may  best  serve  to 
open  once  more  the  free  channels  of  prosperity  to  a  great 
people  whom  we  would  serve  to  the  utmost  and  throughout 
both  rank  and  file. 

I  thank  you  for  your  courtesy. 


180  PRESIDENT  WILSON  '8 

FIRST  INAUGURAL  ADDRESS 

Delivered  by  President  Wilson  at  the  Capitol, 
March  4, 1913 

There  has  been  a  change  of  government.  It  began  two 
years  ago,  when  the  House  of  Representatives  became 
Democratic  by  a  decisive  majority.  It  has  now  been  com- 
pleted. The  Senate  about  to  assemble  will  also  be  Demo- 
cratic. The  offices  of  President  and  Vice  President  have 
been  put  into  the  hands  of  Democrats.  What  does  the 
change  mean  ?  That  is  the  question  that  is  uppermost  in 
our  minds  to-day.  That  is  the  question  I  am  going  to  try 
to  answer,  in  order,  if  I  may,  to  interpret  the  occasion. 

It  means  much  more  than  the  mere  success  of  a  party. 
The  success  of  a  party  means  little  except  when  the 
Nation  is  using  that  party  for  a  large  and  definite  pur- 
pose. No  one  can  mistake  the  purpose  for  which  the 
Nation  now  seeks  to  use  the  Democratic  Party.  It  seeks 
to  use  it  to  interpret  a  change  in  its  own  plans  and  point 
of  view.  Some  old  things  with  which  we  had  grown 
familiar,  and  which  had  begun  to  creep  into  the  very 
habit  of  our  thought  and  of  our  lives,  have  altered  their 
aspect  as  we  have  latterly  looked  critically  upon  them, 
with  fresh,  awakened  eyes ;  have  dropped  their  disguises 
and  shown  themselves  alien  and  sinister.  Some  new 
things,  as  we  look  frankly  upon  them,  willing  to  compre- 
hend their  real  character,  have  come  to  assume  the  aspect 
of  things  long  believed  in  and  familiar,  stuff  of  our  own 
convictions.  We  have  been  refreshed  by  a  new  insight 
into  our  own  life. 

We  see  that  in  many  things  that  life  is  very  great.  It  is 
incomparably  great  in  its  material  aspects,  in  its  body  of 
wealth,  in  the  diversity  and  sweep  of  its  energy,  in  the 


GREAT  SPEECHES  181 

industries  which  have  been  conceived  and  built  up  by  the 
genius  of  individual  men  and  the  limitless  enterprise  of 
groups  of  men.  It  is  great,  also,  very  great,  in  its  moral 
force.  Nowhere  else  in  the  world  have  noble  men  and 
women  exhibited  in  more  striking  forms  the  beauty  and 
the  energy  of  sympathy  and  helpfulness  and  counsel  in 
their  efforts  to  rectify  wrong,  alleviate  suffering,  and  set 
the  weak  in  the  way  of  strength  and  hope.  We  have 
built  up,  moreover,  a  great  system  of  government,  which 
has  stood  through  a  long  age  as  in  many  respects  a  model 
for  those  who  seek  to  set  liberty  upon  foundations  that 
will  endure  against  fortuitous  change,  against  storm  and 
accident.  Our  life  contains  every  great  thing,  and  con- 
tains it  in  rich  abundance. 

But  the  evil  has  come  with  the  good,  and  much  fine  gold 
has  been  corroded.  With  riches  has  come  inexcusable 
waste.  We  have  squandered  a  great  part  of  what  we 
might  have  used,  and  have  not  stopped  to  conserve  the 
exceeding  bounty  of  nature,  without  which  our  genius 
for  enterprise  would  have  been  worthless  and  impotent, 
scorning  to  be  careful,  shamefully  prodigal  as  well  as 
admirably  efficient.  We  have  been  proud  of  our  indus- 
trial achievements,  but  we  have  not  hitherto  stopped 
thoughtfully  enough  to  count  the  human  cost,  the  cost  of 
lives  snuffed  out,  of  energies  overtaxed  and  broken,  the 
fearful  physical  and  spiritual  cost  to  the  men  and  women 
and  children  upon  whom  the  dead  weight  and  burden  of  it 
all  has  fallen  pitilessly  the  years  through.  The  groans 
and  agony  of  it  all  had  not  yet  reached  our  ears,  the 
solemn,  moving  undertone  of  our  life,  coming  up  out  of 
the  mines  and  factories  and  out  of  every  home  where  the 
struggle  had  its  intimate  and  familiar  seat.  With  the 
great  Government  went  many  deep  secret  things  which  we 
too  long  delayed  to  look  into  and  scrutinize  with  candid, 


182  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

fearless  eyes.  The  great  Government  we  loved  has  too 
often  been  made  use  of  for  private  and  selfish  purposes, 
and  those  who  used  it  had  forgotten  the  people. 

At  last  a  vision  has  been  vouchsafed  us  of  our  life  as 
a  whole.  We  see  the  bad  with  the  good,  the  debased  and 
decadent  with  the  sound  and  vital.  With  this  vision 
we  approach  new  affairs.  Our  duty  is  to  cleanse,  to 
reconsider,  to  restore,  to  correct  the  evil  without  impair- 
ing the  good,  to  purify  and  humanize  every  process  of 
our  common  life  without  weakening  or  sentimentalizing 
it.  There  has  been  something  crude  and  heartless  and 
unfeeling  in  our  haste  to  succeed  and  be  great.  Our 
thought  has  been  "Let  every  man  look  out  for  himself, 
let  every  generation  look  out  for  itself, ' '  while  we  reared 
giant  machinery  which  made  it  impossible  that  any  but 
those  who  stood  at  the  levers  of  control  should  have  a 
chance  to  look  out  for  themselves.  We  had  not  forgotten 
our  morals.  We  remembered  well  enough  that  we  had 
set  up  a  policy  which  was  meant  to  serve  the  humblest  as 
well  as  the  most  powerful,  with  an  eye  single  to  the  stand- 
ards of  justice  and  fair  play,  and  remembered  it  with 
pride.  But  we  were  very  heedless  and  in  a  hurry  to  be 
great. 

We  have  come  now  to  the  sober  second  thought.  The 
scales  of  heedlessness  have  fallen  from  our  eyes.  We 
have  made  up  our  minds  to  square  every  process  of  our 
national  life  again  with  the  standards  we  so  proudly  set 
up  at  the  beginning  and  have  always  carried  at  our  hearts. 
Our  work  is  a  work  of  restoration. 

We  have  itemized  with  some  degree  of  particularity 
the  things  that  ought  to  be  altered  and  here  are  some 
of  the  chief  items:  A  tariff  which  cuts  us  off  from  our 
proper  part  in  the  commerce  of  the  world,  violates  the 
just  principles  of  taxation,  and  makes  the  Government 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  183 

a  facile  instrument  in  the  hands  of  private  interests;  a 
banking  and  currency  system  based  upon  the  necessity 
of  the  Government  to  sell  its  bonds  fifty  years  ago  and 
perfectly  adapted  to  concentrating  cash  and  restrict- 
ing credits ;  an  industrial  system  which,  take  it  on  all  its 
sides,  financial  as  well  as  administrative,  holds  capital  in 
leading  strings,  restricts  the  liberties  and  limits  the 
opportunities  of  labor,  and  exploits  without  renewing 
or  conserving  the  natural  resources  of  the  country;  a 
body  of  agricultural  activities  never  yet  given  the  effi- 
ciency of  great  business  undertakings  or  served  as  it 
should  be  through  the  instrumentality  of  science  taken 
directly  to  the  farm,  or  afforded  the  facilities  of  credit 
best  suited  to  its  practical  needs;  watercourses  unde- 
veloped, waste  places  unreclaimed,  forests  untended,  fast 
disappearing  without  plan  or  prospect  of  renewal,  unre- 
garded waste  heaps  at  every  mine.  We  have  studied  as 
perhaps  no  other  nation  has  the  most  effective  means  of 
production,  but  we  have  not  studied  cost  or  economy  as 
we  should  either  as  organizers  of  industry,  as  statesmen, 
or  as  individuals. 

Nor  have  we  studied  and  perfected  the  means  by 
which  government  may  be  put  at  the  service  of  humanity, 
in  safeguarding  the  health  of  the  Nation,  the  health  of 
its  men  and  its  women  and  its  children,  as  well  as  their 
rights  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  This  is  no  senti- 
mental duty.  The  firm  basis  of  government  is  justice, 
not  pity.  These  are  matters  of  justice.  There  can  be 
no  equality  or  opportunity,  the  first  essential  of  justice 
in  the  body  politic,  if  men  and  women  and  children  be 
not  shielded  in  their  lives,  their  very  vitality,  from  the 
consequences  of  great  industrial  and  social  processes 
which  they  can  not  alter,  control,  or  singly  cope  with. 
Society  must  see  to  it  that  it  does  not  itself  crush  or 


184  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

weaken  or  damage  its  own  constituent  parts.  The  first 
duty  of  law  is  to  keep  sound  the  society  it  serves. 
Sanitary  laws,  pure  food  laws,  and  laws  determining 
conditions  of  labor  which  individuals  are  powerless  to 
determine  for  themselves  are  intimate  parts  of  the  very 
business  of  justice  and  legal  efficiency. 

These  are  some  of  the  things  we  ought  to  do,  and  not 
leave  the  others  undone,  the  old-fashioned,  never-to-be- 
neglected,  fundamental  safeguarding  of  property  and  of 
individual  right.  This  is  the  high  enterprise  of  the  new 
day:  To  lift  everything  that  concerns  our  life  as  a 
Nation  to  the  light  that  shines  from  the  hearthfire  of 
every  man's  conscience  and  vision  of  the  right.  It  is 
inconceivable  that  we  should  do  this  as  partisans;  it  is 
inconceivable  we  should  do  it  in  ignorance  of  the  facts 
as  they  are  or  in  blind  haste.  We  shall  restore,  not 
destroy.  We  shall  deal  with  our  economic  system  as  it  is 
and  as  it  may  be  modified,  not  as  it  might  be  if  we  had 
a  clean  sheet  of  paper  to  write  upon;  and  step  by  step 
we  shall  make  it  what  it  should  be,  in  the  spirit  of  those 
who  question  their  own  wisdom  and  seek  counsel  and 
knowledge,  not  shallow  self-satisfaction  or  the  excitement 
of  excursions  whither  they  can  not  tell.  Justice,  and  only 
justice,  shall  always  be  our  motto. 

And  yet  it  will  be  no  cool  process  of  mere  science. 
The  Nation  has  been  deeply  stirred,  stirred  by  a  solemn 
passion,  stirred  by  the  knowledge  of  wrong,  of  ideals 
lost,  of  government  too  often  debauched  and  made  an 
instrument  of  evil.  The  feelings  with  which  we  face 
this  new  age  of  right  and  opportunity  sweep  across  our 
heartstrings  like  some  air  out  of  God's  own  presence, 
where  justice  and  mercy  are  reconciled  and  the  judge 
and  the  brother  are  one.  We  know  our  task  to  be  no  mere 
task  of  politics  but  a  task  which  shall  search  us  through 


GREAT  SPEECHES  185 

and  through,  whether  we  be  able  to  understand  our  time 
and  the  need  of  our  people,  whether  we  be  indeed  their 
spokesmen  and  interpreters,  whether  we  have  the  pure 
heart  to  comprehend  and  the  rectified  will  to  choose  our 
high  course  of  action. 

This  is  not  a  day  of  triumph ;  it  is  a  day  of  dedication. 
Here  muster,  not  the  forces  of  party,  but  the  forces  of 
humanity.  Men 's  hearts  wait  upon  us ;  men 's  lives  hang 
in  the  balance;  men's  hopes  call  upon  us  to  say  what 
we  will  do.  "Who  shall  live  up  to  the  great  trust  ?  Who 
dares  fail  to  try  ?  I  summon  all  honest  men,  all  patriotic, 
all  forward-looking  men,  to  my  side.  God  helping  me, 
I  will  not  fail  them,  if  they  will  but  counsel  and  sus- 
tain me ! 


18(J  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ON  MEXICAN  AFFAIRS 

Address  of  the  President  to  Congress,  at  a  Joint  Session, 
August  27,  1913 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONGRESS  : 

It  is  clearly  my  duty  to  lay  before  you,  very  fully  and 
without  reservation,  the  facts  concerning  our  present 
relations  with  the  Republic  of  Mexico.  The  deplorable 
posture  of  affairs  in  Mexico  I  need  not  describe,  but  I 
deem  it  my  duty  to  speak  very  frankly  of  what  this 
Government  has  done  and  should  seek  to  do  in  fulfill- 
ment of  its  obligation  to  Mexico  herself,  as  a  friend  and 
neighbor,  and  to  American  citizens  whose  lives  and  vital 
interests  are  daily  affected  by  the  distressing  conditions 
which  now  obtain  beyond  our  southern  border. 

Those  conditions  touch  us  very  nearly.  Not  merely 
because  they  lie  at  our  very  doors.  That  of  course  makes 
us  more  vividly  and  more  constantly  conscious  of  them, 
and  every  instinct  of  neighborly  interest  and  sympathy 
is  aroused  and  quickened  by  them ;  but  that  is  only  one 
element  in  the  determination  of  our  duty.  We  are  glad 
to  call  ourselves  the  friends  of  Mexico,  and  we  shall,  I 
hope,  have  many  an  occasion,  in  happier  times  as  well  as 
in  these  days  of  trouble  and  confusion,  to  show  that  our 
friendship  is  genuine  and  disinterested,  capable  of  sacri- 
fice and  every  generous  manifestation.  The  peace,  pros- 
perity, and  contentment  of  Mexico  mean  more,  much 
more,  to  us  than  merely  an  enlarged  field  of  our  com- 
merce and  enterprise.  They  mean  an  enlargement  of  the 
field  of  self-government  and  the  realization  of  the  hopes 
and  rights  of  a  nation  with  whose  best  aspirations,  so  long 
suppressed  and  disappointed,  we  deeply  sympathize.  We 
shall  yet  prove  to  the  Mexican  people  that  we  know  how 


GREAT  SPEECHES  187 

to  serve  them  without  first  thinking  how  we  shall  serve 
ourselves. 

But  we  are  not  the  only  friends  of  Mexico.  The  whole 
world  desires  her  peace  and  progress;  and  the  whole 
world  is  interested  as  never  before.  Mexico  lies  at  last 
where  all  the  world  looks  on.  Central  America  is  about 
to  be  touched  by  the  great  routes  of  the  world's  trade 
and  intercourse  running  free  from  ocean  to  ocean  at  the 
Isthmus.  The  future  has  much  in  store  for  Mexico,  as 
for  all  the  States  of  Central  America ;  but  the  best  gifts 
can  come  to  her  only  if  she  be  ready  and  free  to  receive 
them  and  to  enjoy  them  honorably.  America  in  particu- 
lar— America  north  and  south  and  upon  both  continents 
— waits  upon  the  development  of  Mexico;  and  that  de- 
velopment can  be  sound  and  lasting  only  if  it  be  the 
product  of  a  genuine  freedom,  a  just  and  ordered  govern- 
ment founded  upon  law.  Only  so  can  it  be  peaceful  or 
fruitful  of  the  benefits  of  peace.  Mexico  has  a  great  and 
enviable  future  before  her,  if  only  she  choose  and  attain 
the  paths  of  honest  constitutional  government. 

The  present  circumstances  of  the  Republic,  I  deeply 
regret  to  say,  do  not  seem  to  promise  even  the  foundations 
of  such  a  peace.  We  have  waited  many  months,  months 
full  of  peril  and  anxiety,  for  the  conditions  there  to 
improve,  and  they  have  not  improved.  They  have  grown 
worse,  rather.  The  territory  in  some  sort  controlled  by 
the  provisional  authorities  at  Mexico  City  has  grown 
smaller,  not  larger.  The  prospect  of  the  pacification  of 
the  country,  even  by  arms,  has  seemed  to  grow  more  and 
more  remote;  and  its  pacification  by  the  authorities  at 
the  capital  is  evidently  impossible  by  any  other  means 
than  force.  Difficulties  more  and  more  entangle  those 
who  claim  to  constitute  the  legitimate  government  of  the 
Republic.  They  have  not  made  good  their  claim  in  fact. 


188  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

Their  successes  in  the  field  have  proved  only  temporary. 
War  and  disorder,  devastation  and  confusion,  seem  to 
threaten  to  become  the  settled  fortune  of  the  distracted 
country.  As  friends  we  could  wait  no  longer  for  a  solu- 
tion which  every  week  seemed  further  away.  It  was  our 
duty  at  least  to  volunteer  our  good  offices — to  offer  to 
assist,  if  we  might,  in  effecting  some  arrangement  which 
would  bring  relief  and  peace  and  set  up  a  universally 
acknowledged  political  authority  there. 

Accordingly,  I  took  the  liberty  of  sending  the  Hon. 
John  Lind,  former  governor  of  Minnesota,  as  my  personal 
spokesman  and  representative,  to  the  City  of  Mexico, 
with  the  following  instructions: 

"Press  very  earnestly  upon  the  attention  of  those  who 
are  now  exercising  authority  or  wielding  influence  in 
Mexico  the  following  considerations  and  advice : 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  does  not  feel 
at  liberty  any  longer  to  stand  inactively  by  while  it 
becomes  daily  more  and  more  evident  that  no  real  prog- 
ress is  being  made  towards  the  establishment  of  a  govern- 
ment at  the  City  of  Mexico  which  the  country  will  obey 
and  respect. 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  does  not  stand 
in  the  same  case  with  the  other  great  Governments  of 
the  world  in  respect  of  what  is  happening  or  what  is 
likely  to  happen  in  Mexico.  We  offec  our  good  offices, 
not  only  because  of  our  genuine  desire  to  play  the  part 
of  a  friend,  but  also  because  we  are  expected  by  the 
powers  of  the  world  to  act  as  Mexico 's  nearest  friend. 

"We  wish  to  act  in  these  circumstances  in  the  spirit  of 
the  most  earnest  and  disinterested  friendship.  It  is  our 
purpose  in  whatever  we  do  or  propose  in  this  perplexing 
and  distressing  situation  not  only  to  pay  the  most  scrupu- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  189 

lous  regard  to  the  sovereignty  and  independence  of 
Mexico — that  we  take  as  a  matter  of  course  to  which  we 
are  bound  by  every  obligation  of  right  and  honor — but 
also  to  give  every  possible  evidence  that  we  act  in  the 
interest  of  Mexico  alone,  and  not  in  the  interest  of  any 
person  or  body  of  persons  who  may  have  personal  or 
property  claims  in  Mexico  which  they  may  feel  that  they 
have  the  right  to  press.  We  are  seeking  to  counsel  Mexico 
for  her  own  good  and  in  the  interest  of  her  own  peace, 
and  not  for  any  other  purpose  whatever.  The  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  would  deem  itself  discredited 
if  it  had  any  selfish  or  ulterior  purpose  in  transactions 
where  the  peace,  happiness,  and  prosperity  of  a  whole 
people  are  involved.  It  is  acting  as  its  friendship  for 
Mexico,  not  as  any  selfish  interest,  dictates. 

' '  The  present  situation  in  Mexico  is  incompatible  with 
the  fulfillment  of  international  obligations  on  the  part  of 
Mexico,  with  the  civilized  development  of  Mexico  herself, 
and  with  the  maintenance  of  tolerable  political  and  eco- 
nomic conditions  in  Central  America.  It  is  upon  no 
common  occasion,  therefore,  that  the  United  States  offers 
her  counsel  and  assistance.  All  America  cries  out  for 
a  settlement. 

"A  satisfactory  settlement  seems  to  us  to  be  condi- 
tioned on — 

"(a)  An  immediate  cessation  of  fighting  throughout 
Mexico,  a  definite  armistice  solemnly  entered  into  and 
scrupulously  observed ; 

"  (b)  Security  given  for  an  early  and  free  election  in 
which  all  will  agree  to  take  part : 

' '  (c )  The  consent  of  Gen.  Huerta  to  bind  himself  not  to 
be  a  candidate  for  election  as  President  of  the  Kepublic 
at  this  election ;  and 

"(d)  The  agreement  of  all  parties  to  abide  by  the 


190  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

results  of  the  election  and  cooperate  in  the  most  loyal 
way  in  organizing  and  supporting  the  new  administra- 
tion. 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  will  be  glad  to 
play  any  part  in  this  settlement  or  in  its  carrying  out 
which  it  can  play  honorably  and  consistently  with  inter- 
national right.  It  pledges  itself  to  recognize  and  in  every 
way  possible  and  proper  to  assist  the  administration 
chosen  and  set  up  in  Mexico  in  the  way  and  on  the  condi- 
tions suggested. 

* '  Taking  all  the  existing  conditions  into  consideration, 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  can  conceive  of  no 
reason  sufficient  to  justify  those  who  are  now  attempting 
to  shape  the  policy  or  exercise  the  authority  of  Mexico 
in  declining  the  offices  of  friendship  thus  offered.  Can 
Mexico  give  the  civilized  world  a  satisfactory  reason  for 
rejecting  our  good  offices?  If  Mexico  can  suggest  any 
better  way  in  which  to  show  our  friendship,  serve  the 
people  of  Mexico,  and  meet  our  international  obligations, 
we  are  more  than  willing  to  consider  the  suggestion. ' ' 

Mr.  Lind  executed  his  delicate  and  difficult  mission  with 
singular  tact,  firmness,  and  good  judgment,  and  made 
clear  to  the  authorities  at  the  City  of  Mexico  not  only 
the  purpose  of  his  visit  but  also  the  spirit  in  which  it 
had  been  undertaken.  But  the  proposals  he  submitted 
were  rejected,  in  a  note  the  full  text  of  which  I  take  the 
liberty  of  laying  before  you. 

I  am  led  to  believe  that  they  were  rejected  partly 
because  the  authorities  at  Mexico  City  had  been  grossly 
misinformed  and  misled  upon  two  points.  They  did  not 
realize  the  spirit  of  the  American  people  in  this  matter, 
their  earnest  friendliness  and  yet  sober  determination 
that  some  just  solution  be  found  for  the  Mexican  diffi- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  191 

cnlties ;  and  they  did  not  believe  that  the  present  adminis- 
tration spoke,  through  Mr.  Lind,  for  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  The  effect  of  this  unfortunate  misunder- 
standing on  their  part  is  to  leave  them  singularly  isolated 
and  without  friends  who  can  effectually  aid  them.  So 
long  as  the  misunderstanding  continues  we  can  only  await 
the  time  of  their  awakening  to  a  realization  of  the  actual 
facts.  "We  can  not  thrust  our  good  offices  upon  them. 
The  situation  must  be  given  a  little  more  time  to  work 
itself  out  in  the  new  circumstances;  and  I  believe  that 
only  a  little  while  will  be  necessary.  For  the  circum- 
stances are  new.  The  rejection  of  our  friendship  makes 
them  new  and  will  inevitably  bring  its  own  alterations 
in  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs.  The  actual  situation  of  the 
authorities  at  Mexico  City  will  presently  be  revealed. 

Meanwhile,  what  is  it  our  duty  to  do?  Clearly,  every- 
thing that  we  do  must  be  rooted  in  patience  and  done 
with  calm  and  disinterested  deliberation.  Impatience 
on  our  part  would  be  childish,  and  would  be  fraught  with 
every  risk  of  wrong  and  folly.  "We  can  afford  to  exercise 
the  self-restraint  of  a  really  great  nation  which  realizes 
its  own  strength  and  scorns  to  misuse  it.  It  was  our  duty 
to  offer  our  active  assistance.  It  is  now  our  duty  to  show 
what  true  neutrality  will  do  to  enable  the  people  of 
Mexico  to  set  their  affairs  in  order  again  and  wait  for 
a  further  opportunity  to  offer  our  friendly  counsels. 
The  door  is  not  closed  against  the  resumption,  either 
upon  the  initiative  of  Mexico  or  upon  our  own,  of  the 
effort  to  bring  order  out  of  the  confusion  by  friendly 
cooperative  action,  should  fortunate  occasion  offer. 

"While  we  wait  the  contest  of  the  rival  forces  will 
undoubtedly  for  a  little  while  be  sharper  than  ever,  just 
because  it  will  be  plain  that  an  end  must  be  made  of  the 
existing  situation,  and  that  very  promptly ;  and  with  the 


192  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

increased  activity  of  the  contending  factions  will  come, 
it  is  to  be  feared,  increased  danger  to  the  noncombatants 
in  Mexico  as  well  as  to  those  actually  in  the  field  of  battle. 
The  position  of  outsiders  is  always  particularly  trying 
and  full  of  hazard  where  there  is  civil  strife  and  a  whole 
country  is  upset.  We  should  earnestly  urge  all  Ameri- 
cans to  leave  Mexico  at  once,  and  should  assist  them  to 
get  away  in  every  way  possible — not  because  we  would 
mean  to  slacken  in  the  least  our  efforts  to  safeguard  their 
lives  and  their  interests,  but  because  it  is  imperative  that 
they  should  take  no  unnecesary  risks  when  it  is  physically 
possible  for  them  to  leave  the  country.  "We  should  let 
every  one  who  assumes  to  exercise  authority  in  any  part 
of  Mexico  know  in  the  most  unequivocal  way  that  we  shall 
vigilantly  watch  the  fortunes  of  those  Americans  who  can 
not  get  away,  and  shall  hold  those  responsible  for  their 
sufferings  and  losses  to  a  definite  reckoning.  That  can  be 
and  will  be  made  plain  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  mis- 
understanding. 

For  the  rest,  I  deem  it  my  duty  to  exercise  the  authority 
conferred  upon  me  by  the  law  of  March  14,  1912,  to  see 
to  it  that  neither  side  to  the  struggle  now  going  on  in 
Mexico  receive  any  assistance  from  this  side  of  the  border. 
I  shall  follow  the  best  practice  of  nations  in  the  matter  of 
neutrality  by  forbidding  the  exportation  of  arms  or  muni- 
tions of  war  of  any  kind  from  the  United  States  to  any 
part  of  the  Republic  of  Mexico — a  policy  suggested  by 
several  interesting  precedents  and  certainly  dictated  by 
many  manifest  considerations  of  practical  expediency. 
We  can  not  in  the  circumstances  be  the  partisans  of  either 
party  to  the  contest  that  now  distracts  Mexico,  or  consti- 
tute ourselves  the  virtual  umpire  between  them. 

I  am  happy  to  say  that  several  of  the  great  Govern- 
ments of  the  world  have  given  this  Government  their 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  193 

generous  moral  support  in  urging  upon  the  provisional 
authorities  at  the  City  of  Mexico  the  acceptance  of  our 
proffered  good  offices  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  were 
made.  We  have  not  acted  in  this  matter  under  the  ordi- 
nary principles  of  international  obligation.  All  the 
world  expects  us  in  such  circumstances  to  act  as  Mexico's 
nearest  friend  and  intimate  adviser.  This  is  our  imme- 
morial relation  towards  her.  There  is  nowhere  any  seri- 
ous question  that  we  have  the  moral  right  in  the  case  or 
that  we  are  acting  in  the  interest  of  a  fair  settlement  and 
of  good  government,  not  for  the  promotion  of  some  selfish 
interest  of  our  own.  If  further  motive  were  necessary 
than  our  own  good  will  towards  a  sister  Republic  and  our 
own  deep  concern  to  see  peace  and  order  prevail  in  Cen- 
tral America,  this  consent  of  mankind  to  what  we  are 
attempting,  this  attitude  of  the  great  nations  of  the 
world  towards  what  we  may  attempt  in  dealing  with  this 
distressed  people  at  our  doors,  should  make  us  feel  the 
more  solemnly  bound  to  go  to  the  utmost  length  of 
patience  and  forbearance  in  this  painful  and  anxious 
business.  The  steady  pressure  of  moral  force  will  before 
many  days  break  the  barriers  of  pride  and  prejudice 
down,  and  we  shall  triumph  as  Mexico's  friends  sooner 
than  we  could  triumph  as  her  enemies — and  how  much 
more  handsomely,  with  how  much  higher  and  finer  satis- 
factions of  conscience  and  of  honor ! 


194  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

AT  INDEPENDENCE  HALL 

Address  of  President  Wilson  in  Philadelphia, 
July  4,  1914 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  FELLOW  CITIZENS  : 

We  are  assembled  to  celebrate  the  one  hundred  and 
thirty-eighth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the  United 
States.  I  suppose  that  we  can  more  vividly  realize  the 
circumstances  of  that  birth  standing  on  this  historic  spot 
than  it  would  be  possible  to  realize  them  anywhere  else. 
The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  written  in  Phila- 
delphia ;  it  was  adopted  in  this  historic  building  by  which 
we  stand.  I  have  just  had  the  privilege  of  sitting  in  the 
chair  of  the  great  man  who  presided  over  the  deliberations 
of  those  who  gave  the  declaration  to  the  world.  My  hand 
rests  at  this  moment  upon  the  table  upon  which  the  decla- 
ration was  signed.  We  can  feel  that  we  are  almost  in  the 
visible  and  tangible  presence  of  a  great  historic  transac- 
tion. 

Have  you  ever  read  the  Declaration  of  Independence  or 
attended  with  close  comprehension  to  the  real  character 
of  it  when  you  have  heard  it  read  ?  If  you  have,  you  will 
know  that  it  is  not  a  Fourth  of  July  oration.  The  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  was  a  document  preliminary  to 
war.  It  was  a  vital  piece  of  practical  business,  not  a 
piece  of  rhetoric ;  and  if  you  will  pass  beyond  those  pre- 
liminary passages  which  we  are  accustomed  to  quote 
about  the  rights  of  men  and  read  into  the  heart  of  the 
document  you  will  see  that  it  is  very  express  and  detailed, 
that  it  consists  of  a  series  of  definite  specifications  con- 
cerning actual  public  business  of  the  day.  Not  the  busi- 
ness of  our  day,  for  the  matter  with  which  it  deals  is  past, 
but  the  business  of  that  first  revolution  by  which  the 


GREAT  SPEECHES  195 

Nation  was  set  up,  the  business  of  1776.  Its  general 
statements,  its  general  declarations  can  not  mean  any- 
thing to  us  unless  Vie  append  to  it  a  similar  specific  body 
of  particulars  as  to  what  we  consider  the  essential  busi- 
ness of  our  own  day. 

Liberty  does  not  consist,  my  fellow  citizens,  in  mere 
general  declarations  of  the  rights  of  man.  It  consists  in 
the  translation  of  those  declarations  into  definite  action. 
Therefore,  standing  here  where  the  declaration  was 
adopted,  reading  its  business-like  sentences,  we  ought 
to  ask  ourselves  what  there  is  in  it  for  us.  There  is  noth- 
ing in  it  for  us  unless  we  can  translate  it  into  the  terms 
of  our  own  conditions  and  of  our  own  lives.  We  must 
reduce  it  to  what  the  lawyers  call  a  bill  of  particulars. 
It  contains  a  bill  of  particulars,  but  the  bill  of  particulars 
of  1776.  If  we  would  keep  it  alive,  we  must  fill  it  with  a 
bill  of  particulars  of  the  year  1914. 

The  task  to  which  we  have  constantly  to  readdress  our- 
selves is  the  task  of  proving  that  we  are  worthy  of  the 
men  who  drew  this  great  declaration  and  know  what  they 
would  have  done  in  our  circumstances.  Patriotism  con- 
sists in  some  very  practical  things — practical  in  that  they 
belong  to  the  life  of  every  day,  that  they  wear  no  extraor- 
dinary distinction  about  them,  that  they  are  connected 
with  commonplace  duty.  The  way  to  be  patriotic  in 
America  is  not  only  to  love  America,  but  to  love  the  duty 
that  lies  nearest  to  our  hand  and  know  that  in  performing 
it  we  are  serving  our  country.  There  are  some  gentlemen 
in  Washington,  for  example,  at  this  very  moment  who 
are  showing  themselves  very  patriotic  in  a  way  which 
does  not  attract  wide  attention  but  seems  to  belong  to 
mere  everyday  obligations.  The  Members  of  the  House 
and  Senate  who  stay  in  hot  Washington  to  maintain  a 
quorum  of  the  Houses  and  transact  the  all-important 


196  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

business  of  the  Nation  are  doing  an  act  of  patriotism.  I 
honor  them  for  it,  and  I  am  glad  to  stay  there  and  stick 
by  them  until  the  work  is  done. 

It  is  patriotic,  also,  to  learn  what  the  facts  of  our 
national  life  are  and  to  face  them  with  candor.  I  have 
heard  a  great  many  facts  stated  about  the  present  business 
condition  of  this  country,  for  example — a  great  many 
allegations  of  fact,  at  any  rate,  but  the  allegations  do 
not  tally  with  one  another.  And  yet  I  know  that  truth 
always  matches  with  truth ;  and  when  I  find  some  insisting 
that  everything  is  going  wrong  and  others  insisting  that 
everything  is  going  right,  and  when  I  know  from  a  wide 
observation  of  the  general  circumstances  of  the  country 
taken  as  a  whole  that  things  are  going  extremely  well,  I 
wonder  what  those  who  are  crying  out  that  things  are 
wrong  are  trying  to  do.  Are  they  trying  to  serve  the 
country,  or  are  they  trying  to  serve  something  smaller 
than  the  country  ?  Are  they  trying  to  put  hope  into  the 
hearts  of  the  men  who  work  and  toil  every  day,  or  are  they 
trying  to  plant  discouragement  and  despair  into  those 
hearts  ?  And  why  do  they  cry  that  everything  is  wrong 
and  yet  do  nothing  to  set  it  right  ?  If  they  love  America 
and  anything  is  wrong  amongst  us,  it  is  their  business  to 
put  their  hand  with  ours  to  the  task  of  setting  it  right. 
When  the  facts  are  known  and  acknowledged,  the  duty 
of  all  patriotic  men  is  to  accept  them  in  candor  and  to 
address  themselves  hopefully  and  confidently  to  the  com- 
mon counsel  which  is  necessary  to  act  upon  them  wisely 
and  in  universal  concert. 

I  have  had  some  experiences  in  the  last  14  months  which 
have  not  been  entirely  reassuring.  It  was  universally 
admitted,  for  example,  my  fellow  citizens,  that  the  bank- 
ing system  of  this  country  needed  reorganization.  "We  set 


GREAT  SPEECHES  197 

the  best  minds  that  we  could  find  to  the  task  of  discover- 
ing the  best  method  of  reorganization.  But  we  met  with 
hardly  anything  but  criticism  from  the  bankers  of  the 
country;  we  met  with  hardly  anything  but  resistance 
from  the  majority  of  those  at  least  who  spoke  at  all  con- 
cerning the  matter.  And  yet  so  soon  as  that  act  was 
passed  there  was  a  universal  chorus  of  applause,  and  the 
very  men  who  had  opposed  the  measure  joined  in  that 
applause.  If  it  was  wrong  the  day  before  it  was  passed, 
why  was  it  right  the  day  after  it  was  passed?  Where 
had  been  the  candor  of  criticism  not  only,  but  the  concert 
of  counsel  which  makes  legislative  action  vigorous  and 
safe  and  successful? 

It  is  not  patriotic  to  concert  measures  against  one 
another;  it  is  patriotic  to  concert  measures  for  one  an- 
other. 

In  one  sense  the  Declaration  of  Independence  has  lost 
its  significance.  It  has  lost  its  significance  as  a  decla- 
ration of  national  independence.  Nobody  outside  of 
America  believed  when  it  was  uttered  that  we  could  make 
good  our  independence;  now  nobody  anywhere  would 
dare  to  doubt  that  we  are  independent  and  can  maintain 
our  independence.  As  a  declaration  of  independence, 
therefore,  it  is  a  mere  historic  document.  Our  inde- 
pendence is  a  fact  so  stupendous  that  it  can  be  measured 
only  by  the  size  and  energy  and  variety  and  wealth  and 
power  of  one  of  the  greatest  nations  in  the  world.  But 
it  is  one  thing  to  be  independent  and  it  is  another  thing 
to  know  what  to  do  with  your  independence.  It  is  one 
thing  to  come  to  your  majority  and  another  thing  to 
know  what  you  are  going  to  do  with  your  life  and  your 
energies ;  and  one  of  the  most  serious  questions  for  sober- 
minded  men  to  address  themselves  to  in  the  United  States 
is  this :  What  are  we  going  to  do  with  the  influence  and 


198  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

power  of  this  great  Nation?  Are  we  going  to  play  the 
old  role  of  using  that  power  for  our  aggrandizement  and 
material  benefit  only  ?  You  know  what  that  may  mean. 
It  may  upon  occasion  mean  that  we  shall  use  it  to  make 
the  people  of  other  nations  suffer  in  the  way  in  which 
we  said  it  was  intolerable  to  suffer  when  we  uttered  our 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  Department  of  State  at  "Washington  is  constantly 
called  upon  to  back  up  the  commercial  enterprises  and 
the  industrial  enterprises  of  the  United  States  in  foreign 
countries,  and  it  at  one  time  went  so  far  in  that  direction 
that  all  its  diplomacy  came  to  be  designated  as  "dollar 
diplomacy."  It  was  called  upon  to  support  every  man 
who  wanted  to  earn  anything  anywhere  if  he  was  an 
American.  But  there  ought  to  be  a  limit  to  that.  There 
is  no  man  who  is  more  interested  than  I  am  in  carrying 
the  enterprise  of  American  business  men  to  every  quarter 
of  the  globe.  I  was  interested  in  it  long  before  I  was 
suspected  of  being  a  politician.  I  have  been  preaching 
it  year  after  year  as  the  great  thing  that  lay  in  the  future 
for  the  United  States,  to  show  her  wit  and  skill  and  enter- 
prise and  influence  in  every  country  in  the  world.  But 
observe  the  limit  to  all  that  which  is  laid  upon  us  perhaps 
more  than  upon  any  other  nation  in  the  world.  We  set 
this  Nation  up,  at  any  rate  we  professed  to  set  it  up,  to 
vindicate  the  rights  of  men.  "We  did  not  name  any  differ- 
ences between  one  race  and  another.  We  did  not  set  up 
any  barriers  against  any  particular  people.  We  opened 
our  gates  to  all  the  world  and  said, ' '  Let  all  men  who  wish 
to  be  free  come  to  us  and  they  will  be  welcome."  We 
said, ' '  This  independence  of  ours  is  not  a  selfish  thing  for 
our  own  exclusive  private  use.  It  is  for  everybody  to 
whom  we  can  find  the  means  of  extending  it."  We  can 


GREAT  SPEECHES  199 

not  with  that  oath  taken  in  our  youth,  we  can  not  with 
that  great  ideal  set  before  us  when  we  were  a  young 
people  and  numbered  only  a  scant  3,000,000,  take  upon 
ourselves,  now  that  we  are  100,000,000  strong,  any  other 
conception  of  duty  than  we  then  entertained.  If  Ameri- 
can enterprise  in  foreign  countries,  particularly  in  those 
foreign  countries  which  are  not  strong  enough  to  resist 
us,  takes  the  shape  of  imposing  upon  and  exploiting  the 
mass  of  the  people  of  that  country  it  ought  to  be  checked 
and  not  encouraged.  I  am  willing  to  get  anything  for  an 
American  that  money  and  enterprise  can  obtain  except 
the  suppression  of  the  rights  of  other  men.  I  will  not  help 
any  man  buy  a  power  which  he  ought  not  to  exercise  over 
his  fellow  beings. 

You  know,  my  fellow  countrymen,  what  a  big  question 
there  is  in  Mexico.  Eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  Mexican 
people  have  never  been  allowed  to  have  any  genuine  par- 
ticipation in  their  own  Government  or  to  exercise  any 
substantial  rights  with  regard  to  the  very  land  they  live 
upon.  All  the  rights  that  men  most  desire  have  been 
exercised  by  the  other  15  per  cent.  Do  you  suppose  that 
that  circumstance  is  not  sometimes  in  my  thought?  I 
know  that  the  American  people  have  a  heart  that  will 
beat  just  as  strong  for  those  millions  in  Mexico  as  it  will 
beat,  or  has  beaten,  for  any  other  millions  elsewhere  in 
the  world,  and  that  when  once  they  conceive  what  is  at 
stake  in  Mexico  they  will  know  what  ought  to  be  done  in 
Mexico.  I  hear  a  great  deal  said  about  the  loss  of  prop- 
erty in  Mexico  and  the  loss  of  the  lives  of  foreigners,  and  I 
deplore  these  things  with  all  my  heart.  Undoubtedly, 
upon  the  conclusion  of  the  present  disturbed  conditions 
in  Mexico  those  who  have  been  unjustly  deprived  of  their 
property  or  in  any  wise  unjustly  put  upon  ought  to  be 


200  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

compensated.  Men's  individual  rights  have  no  doubt 
been  invaded,  and  the  invasion  of  those  rights  has  been 
attended  by  many  deplorable  circumstances  which  ought 
some  time,  in  the  proper  way,  to  be  accounted  for.  But 
back  of  it  all  is  the  struggle  of  a  people  to  come  into  its 
own,  and  while  we  look  upon  the  incidents  in  the  fore- 
ground let  us  not  forget  the  great  tragic  reality  in  the 
background  which  towers  above  the  whole  picture. 

A  patriotic  American  is  a  man  who  is  not  niggardly  and 
selfish  in  the  things  that  he  enjoys  that  make  for  human 
liberty  and  the  rights  of  man.  He  wants  to  share  them 
with  the  whole  world,  and  he  is  never  so  proud  of  the 
great  flag  under  which  he  lives  as  when  it  comes  to  mean 
to  other  people  as  well  as  to  himself  a  symbol  of  hope 
and  liberty.  I  would  be  ashamed  of  this  flag  if  it  ever 
did  anything  outside  America  that  we  would  not  permit 
it  to  do  inside  of  America. 

The  world  is  becoming  more  complicated  every  day, 
my  fellow  citizens.  No  man  ought  to  be  foolish  enough  to 
think  that  he  understands  it  all.  And,  therefore,  I  am 
glad  that  there  are  some  simple  things  in  the  world.  One 
of  the  simple  things  is  principle.  Honesty  is  a  perfectly 
simple  thing.  It  is  hard  for  me  to  believe  that  in  most 
circumstances  when  a  man  has  a  choice  of  ways  he  does 
not  know  which  is  the  right  way  and  which  is  the  wrong 
way.  No  man  who  has  chosen  the  wrong  way  ought 
even  to  come  into  Independence  Square ;  it  is  holy  ground 
which  he  ought  not  to  tread  upon.  He  ought  not  to  come 
where  immortal  voices  have  uttered  the  great  sentences 
of  such  a  document  as  this  Declaration  of  Independence 
upon  which  rests  the  liberty  of  a  whole  nation. 

And  so  I  say  that  it  is  patriotic  sometimes  to  prefer 
the  honor  of  the  country  to  its  material  interest.  Would 
you  rather  be  deemed  by  'all  the  nations  of  the  world  in- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  201 

capable  of  keeping  your  treaty  obligations  in  order  that 
you  might  have  free  tolls  for  American  ships  ?  The  treaty 
under  which  we  gave  up  that  right  may  have  been  a  mis- 
taken treaty,  but  there  was  no  mistake  about  its  meaning. 

When  I  have  made  a  promise  as  a  man  I  try  to  keep 
it,  and  I  know  of  no  other  rule  permissible  to  a  nation. 
The  most  distinguished  nation  in  the  world  is  the  nation 
that  can  and  will  keep  its  promises  even  to  its  own  hurt. 
And  I  want  to  say  parenthetically  that  I  do  not  think 
anybody  was  hurt.  I  can  not  be  enthusiastic  for  subsidies 
to  a  monopoly,  but  let  those  who  are  enthusiastic  for  sub- 
sidies ask  themselves  whether  they  prefer  subsidies  to 
unsullied  honor. 

The  most  patriotic  man,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  is  some- 
times the  man  who  goes  in  the  direction  that  he  thinks 
right  even  when  he  sees  half  the  world  against  him.  It 
is  the  dictate  of  patriotism  to  sacrifice  yourself  if  you 
think  that  that  is  the  path  of  honor  and  of  duty.  Do  not 
blame  others  if  they  do  not  agree  with  you.  Do  not  die 
with  bitterness  in  your  heart  because  you  did  not  con- 
vince the  rest  of  the  world,  but  die  happy  because  you  be- 
lieve that  you  tried  to  serve  your  country  by  not  selling 
your  soul.  Those  were  grim  days,  the  days  of  1776. 
Those  gentlemen  did  not  attach  their  names  to  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  on  this  table  expecting  a  holiday 
on  the  next  day,  and  that  4th  of  July  was  not  itself  a  holi- 
day. They  attached  their  signatures  to  that  significant 
document  knowing  that  if  they  failed  it  was  certain  that 
every  one  of  them  would  hang  for  the  failure.  They  were 
committing  treason  in  the  interest  of  the  liberty  of  3,000,- 
000  people  in  America.  All  the  rest  of  the  world  was 
against  them  and  smiled  with  cynical  incredulity  at  the 
audacious  undertaking.  Do  you  think  that  if  they  could 
see  this  Nation  now  they  would  regret  anything  that  they 


202  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

then  did  to  draw  the  gaze  of  a  hostile  world  upon  them  ? 
Every  idea  must  be  started  by  somebody,  and  it  is  a  lonely 
thing  to  start  anything.  Yet  if  it  is  in  you,  you  must 
start  it  if  you  have  a  man's  blood  in  you  and  if  you  love 
the  country  that  you  profess  to  be  working  for. 

I  am  sometimes  very  much  interested  when  I  see  gen- 
tlemen supposing  that  popularity  is  the  way  to  success  in 
America.  The  way  to  success  in  this  great  country,  with 
its  fair  judgments,  is  to  show  that  you  are  not  afraid  of 
anybody  except  God  and  his  final  verdict.  If  I  did  not 
believe  that,  I  would  not  believe  in  democracy.  If  I  did 
not  believe  that,  I  would  not  believe  that  people  can  gov- 
ern themselves.  If  I  did  not  believe  that  the  moral  judg- 
ment would  be  the  last  judgment,  the  final  judgment,  in 
the  minds  of  men  as  well  as  the  tribunal  of  God,  I  could 
not  believe  in  popular  government.  But  I  do  believe  these 
things,  and,  therefore,  I  earnestly  believe  in  the  democ- 
racy not  only  of  America  but  of  every  awakened  people 
that  wishes  and  intends  to  govern  and  control  its  own 
affairs. 

It  is  very  inspiring,  my  friends,  to  come  to  this  that 
may  be  called  the  original  fountain  of  independence  and 
liberty  in  America  and  here  drink  draughts  of  patriotic 
feeling  which  seem  to  renew  the  very  blood  in  one 's  veins. 
Down  in  Washington  sometimes  when  the  days  are  hot 
and  the  business  presses  intolerably  and  there  are  so 
many  things  to  do  that  it  does  not  seem  possible  to  do 
anything  in  the  way  it  ought  to  be  done,  it  is  always 
possible  to  lift  one 's  thought  above  the  task  of  the  moment 
and,  as  it  were,  to  realize  that  great  thing  of  which  we 
are  all  parts,  the  great  body  of  American  feeling  and 
American  principle.  No  man  could  do  the  work  that  has 
to  be  done  in  Washington  if  he  allowed  himself  to  be  sepa- 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  203 

rated  from  that  body  of  principle.  He  must  make  him- 
self feel  that  he  is  a  part  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  that  he  is  trying  to  think  not  only  for  them,  but 
with  them,  and  then  he  can  not  feel  lonely.  He  not  only 
can  not  feel  lonely  but  he  can  not  feel  afraid  of  anything. 

My  dream  is  that  as  the  years  go  and  the  world  know* 
more  and  more  of  America  it  will  also  drink  at  these 
fountains  of  youth  and  renewal ;  that  it  also  will  turn  to 
America  for  those  moral  inspirations  which  lie  at  the 
basis  of  all  freedom;  that  the  world  will  never  fear 
America  unless  it  feels  that  it  is  engaged  in  some  enter- 
prise which  is  inconsistent  with  the  rights  of  humanity; 
and  that  America  will  come  into  the  full  light  of  the  day 
when  all  shall  know  that  she  puts  human  rights  above 
all  other  rights  and  that  her  flag  is  the  flag  not  only  of 
America  but  of  humanity. 

What  other  great  people  has  devoted  itself  to  this 
exalted  ideal  ?  To  what  other  nation  in  the  world  can  all 
eyes  look  for  an  instant  sympathy  that  thrills  the  whole 
body  politic  when  men  anywhere  are  fighting  for  their 
rights  ?  I  do  not  know  that  there  will  ever  be  a  declara- 
tion of  independence  and  of  grievances  for  mankind,  but 
I  believe  that  if  any  such  document  is  ever  drawn  it  will 
be  drawn  in  the  spirit  of  the  American  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  that  America  has  lifted  high  the  light 
which  will  shine  unto  all  generations  and  guide  the  feet 
of  mankind  to  the  goal  of  justice  and  liberty  and  peace. 


204  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 


On  Censorship  of  the  Press 

President  Wilson  expressed  his  opinion  of  the  censor- 
ship provision  in  the  espionage  bill  in  a  letter,  May  22, 
1917,  to  Chairman  Webb  of  the  House  judiciary  com- 
mittee, in  which  he  said : 

"I  have  been  much  surprised  to  find  several  of  the 
public  prints  stating  that  the  Administration  had  aban- 
doned the  position  which  it  so  distinctly  took,  and  still 
holds — that  authority  to  exercise  censorship  oVer  the 
press  to  the  extent  that  that  censorship  is  embodied  in 
the  recent  action  of  the  House  of  Representatives  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  the  public  safety.  It,  of  course,  has 
not  been  abandoned,  because  the  reasons  still  exist  why 
such  authority  is  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the 
nation. 

"I  have  every  confidence  that  the  great  majority  of 
the  newspapers  of  the  country  will  observe  a  reticence 
about  everything  whose  publication  could  be  of  injury, 
but  in  every  country  there  are  some  persons  in  a  position 
to  do  mischief  in  this  field  who  cannot  be  relied  on,  and 
whose  interests  or  desires  will  lead  to  actions  on  their 
part  highly  dangerous  to  the  nation  in  the  midst  of  a 
war.  I  want  to  say  again  that  it  seems  to  me  imperative 
that  powers  of  this  sort  should  be  granted." 


— H  5 

(»  >>«.? 
M  >  O?H 

2rt« 
O*  ..« 


HISTORY.  MAKING 
DOCUMENTS 


RESTRAINTS  OF  U.  S.  COMMERCE 

First  Proclamation  of  the  German  Admiralty  Declaring 
a  Naval  War  Zone 

1.  The  waters  surrounding  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
including  the  whole  English  Channel,  are  hereby  declared 
to  be  war  zone.     On  and  after  the  18ih  of  February, 
1915,  every  enemy  merchant  ship  found  in  the  said  war 
zone  will  be  destroyed  without  its  being  always  possible 
to  avert  the  dangers  threatening  the  crews  and  passengers 
on  that  account. 

2.  Even  neutral  ships  are  exposed  to  danger  in  the 
war  zone  as,  in  view  of  the  misuse  of  neutral  flags  ordered 
on  January  31  by  the  British  Government  and  of  the 
accidents  of  naval  war,  it  can  not  always  be  avoided  to 
strike  even  neutral  ships  in  attacks  that  are  directed  at 
enemy  ships. 

3.  Northward  navigation  around  the  Shetland  Islands, 
in  the  eastern  waters  of  the  North  Sea  and  in  a  strip  of 
not  less  than  30  miles  width  along  the  Netherlands  coast 
is  in  no  danger. 

VON  POHL, 
Chief  of  the  Admiral  Stan2  of  the  Navy. 

Berlin,  February  4,  1915. 
205 


206  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

THE  AMERICAN  PROTEST 

Secretary  of  State  Bryan  to  Ambassador  Gerard  at 

Berlin 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  February  10,  1915. 

Please  address  a  note  immediately  to  the  Imperial 
German  Government  to  the  following  effect: 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  having  had  its 
attention  directed  to  the  proclamation  of  the  German 
Admiralty  issued  on  the  fourth  of  February,  that  the 
waters  surrounding  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  including 
the  whole  of  the  English  Channel,  are  to  be  considered  as 
comprised  within  the  seat  of  war;  that  all  enemy  mer- 
chant vessels  found  in  those  waters  after  the  eighteenth 
instant  will  be  destroyed,  although  it  may  not  always  be 
possible  to  save  crews  and  passengers;  and  that  neutral 
vessels  expose  themselves  to  danger  within  this  zone  of 
war  because,  in  view  of  the  misuse  of  neutral  flags  said  to 
have  been  ordered  by  the  British  Government  on  the 
thirty-first  of  January  and  of  the  contingencies  of  mari- 
time warfare,  it  may  not  be  possible  always  to  exempt 
neutral  vessels  from  attacks  intended  to  strike  enemy 
ships,  feels  it  to  be  its  duty  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
Imperial  German  Government,  with  sincere  respect  and 
the  most  friendly  sentiments  but  very  candidly  and  ear- 
nestly, to  the  very  serious  possibilities  of  the  course  of 
action  apparently  contemplated  under  that  proclamation. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  views  those  pos- 
sibilities with  such  grave  concern  that  it  feels  it  to  be  its 
privilege,  and  indeed  its  duty  in  the  circumstances,  to 
request  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  consider 
before  action  is  taken  the  critical  situation  in  respect  of 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  207 

the  relations  between  this  country  and  Germany  which 
might  arise  were  the  German  naval  forces,  in  carrying 
out  the  policy  foreshadowed  in  the  Admiralty's  procla- 
mation, to  destroy  any  merchant  vessel  of  the  United 
States  or  cause  the  death  of  American  citizens. 

It  is  of  course  not  necessary  to  remind  the  German 
Government  that  the  sole  right  of  a  belligerent  in  deal- 
ing with  neutral  vessels  on  the  high  seas  is  limited  to  visit 
and  search,  unless  a  blockade  is  proclaimed  and  effectively 
maintained,  which  this  Government  does  not  understand 
to  be  proposed  in  this  case.  To  declare  or  exercise  a  right 
to  attack  and  destroy  any  vessel  entering  a  prescribed 
area  of  the  high  seas  without  first  certainly  determining 
its  belligerent  nationality  and  the  contraband  character 
of  its  cargo  would  be  an  act  so  unprecedented  in  naval 
warfare  that  this  Government  is  reluctant  to  believe  that 
the  Imperial  Government  of  Germany  in  this  case  con- 
templates it  as  possible.  The  suspicion  that  enemy  ships 
are  using  neutral  flags  improperly  can  create  no  just  pre- 
sumption that  all  ships  traversing  a  prescribed  area  are 
subject  to  the  same  suspicion.  It  is  to  determine  exactly 
such  questions  that  this  Government  understands  the 
right  of  visit  and  search  to  have  been  recognized. 

This  Government  has  carefully  noted  the  explanatory 
statement  issued  by  the  Imperial  German  Government  at 
the  same  time  with  the  proclamation  of  the  German  Ad- 
miralty, and  takes  this  occasion  to  remind  the  Imperial 
German  Government  very  respectfully  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  open  to  none  of  the  criticisms 
for  unneutral  action  to  which  the  German  Government  be- 
lieve the  governments  of  certain  other  neutral  nations 
have  laid  themselves  open;  that  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  has  not  consented  to  or  acquiesced  in  any 
measures  which  may  have  been  taken  by  the  other  bellig- 


208  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

erent  nations  in  the  present  war  which  operate  to  restrain 
neutral  trade,  but  has,  on  the  contrary,  taken  in  all  such 
matters  a  position  which  warrants  it  in  holding  those 
governments  responsible  in  the  proper  way  for  any  un- 
toward effects  upon  American  shipping  which  the  ac- 
cepted principles  of  international  law  do  not  justify ;  and 
that  it,  therefore,  regards  itself  as  free  in  the  present 
instance  to  take  with  a  clear  conscience  and  upon  accepted 
principles  the  position  indicated  in  this  note. 

If  the  commanders  of  German  vessels  of  war  should 
act  upon  the  presumption  that  the  flag  of  the  United 
States  was  not  being  used  in  good  faith  and  should  de- 
stroy on  the  high  seas  an  American  vessel  or  the  lives  of 
American  citizens,  it  would  be  difficult  for  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  to  view  the  act  in  any  other 
light  than  as  an  indefensible  violation  of  neutral  rights 
which  it  would  be  very  hard  indeed  to  reconcile  with  the 
friendly  relations  now  so  happily  subsisting  between  the 
two  Governments. 

If  such  a  deplorable  situation  should  arise,  the  Imperial 
German  Government  can  readily  appreciate  that  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  would  be  constrained  to 
hold  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  a  strict  ac- 
countability for  such  acts  of  their  naval  authorities  and 
to  take  any  steps  it  might  be  necessary  to  take  to  safe- 
guard American  lives  and  property  and  to  secure  to 
American  citizens  the  full  enjoyment  of  their  acknowl- 
edged rights  on  the  high  seas. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  in  view  of  these 
considerations,  which  it  urges  with  the  greatest  respect 
and  with  the  sincere  purpose  of  making  sure  that  no 
misunderstanding  may  arise  and  no  circumstance  occur 
that  might  even  cloud  the  intercourse  of  the  two  Govern- 
ments, expresses  the  confident  hope  and  expectation  that 


HISTOEY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  209 

the  Imperial  German  Government  can  and  will  give  assur- 
ance that  American  citizens  and  their  vessels  will  not  be 
molested  by  the  naval  forces  of  Germany  otherwise  than 
by  visit  and  search,  though  their  vessels  may  be  traversing 
the  sea  area  delimited  in  the  proclamation  of  the  German 
Admiralty. 

It  is  added  for  the  information  of  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment that  representations  have  been  made  to  His 
Britannic  Majesty's  Government  in  respect  to  the  un- 
warranted use  of  the  American  flag  for  the  protection  of 
British  ships. 


Ambassador  W.  H.  Page  to  the  Secretary  of  State 

American  Embassy, 
London,  February  19,  1915. 

Sir  Edward  Grey  has  just  handed  me  the  following 
memorandum  since  your  telegram  to  him  was  given  to 
the  press  in  Washington : 

"The  memorandum  communicated  on  the  llth  Febru- 
ary calls  attention  in  courteous  and  friendly  terms  to  the 
action  of  the  captain  of  the  British  S.  S.  Lusitania  in 
raising  the  flag  of  the  United  States  of  America  when 
approaching  British  waters  and  says  that  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  feel  a  certain  anxiety  in  consider- 
ing the  possibility  of  any  general  use  of  the  flag  of  the 
United  States  by  British  vessels  traversing  those  waters 
since  the  effect  of  such  a  policy  might  be  to  bring  about 
a  menace  to  the  lives  and  vessels  of  United  States  citizens. 

"It  was  understood  that  the  German  Government  had 
announced  their  intention  of  sinking  British  merchant 
vessels  at  sight  by  torpedoes  without  giving  any  oppor- 
tunity of  making  any  provision  for  saving  the  lives  of 


210  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

noneombatant  crews  artd  passengers.  It  was  in  conse- 
quence of  this  threat  that  the  Lusitania  raised  the  United 
States  flag  on  her  inward  voyage  and  on  her  subsequent 
outward  voyage.  A  request  was  made  by  the  United 
States  passengers  who  were  embarking  on  board  her  that 
the  United  States  flag  should  be  hoisted  presumably  to 
insure  their  safety.  Meanwhile  the  memorandum  from 
Your  Excellency  had  been  received.  His  Majesty's  Gov- 
ernment did  not  give  any  advice  to  the  company  as  to 
how  to  meet  this  request  and  it  is  understood  that  the 
Lusitania  left  Liverpool  under  the  British  flag. 

' '  It  seems  unnecessary  to  say  more  as  regards  the  Lusi- 
tania in  particular  regard  to  the  use  of  foreign  flags  by 
merchant  vessels.  The  British  merchant  shipping  act 
makes  it  clear  that  the  use  of  the  British  flag  by  foreign 
merchant  vessels  is  permitted  in  time  of  war  for  the 
purpose  of  escaping  capture.  It  is  believed  that  in  the 
case  of  some  other  nations  there  is  a  similar  recognition 
of  the  same  practice  with  regard  to  their  flags  and  that 
none  have  forbidden  it  It  would  therefore  be  unreason- 
able to  expect  His  Majesty 's  Government  to  pass  legisla- 
tion forbidding  the  use  of  foreign  flags  by  British  mer- 
chant vessels  to  avoid  capture  by  the  enemy.  Now  that 
the  German  Government  have  announced  their  intention 
to  sink  merchant  vessels  at  sight  with  their  noneombatant 
crews,  cargoes,  and  papers,  a  proceeding  hitherto  re- 
garded by  the  opinion  of  the  world  not  as  war,  but  as 
piracy,  it  is  felt  that  the  United  States  Government  could 
not  fairly  ask  the  British  Government  to  order  British 
merchant  vessels  to  forego  the  means — always  hitherto 
permitted — of  escaping  not  only  capture  but  the  much 
worse  fate  of  sinking  and  destruction.  Great  Britain 
has  always  when  neutral  accorded  to  the  vessels  of  other 
States  at  war  liberty  to  use  the  British  flag  as  a  means  of 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  211 

protection  against  capture,  and  instances  are  on  record 
when  United  States  vessels  availed  themselves  of  this 
facility  during  the  American  Civil  War.  It  would  be 
contrary  to  fair  expectation  if  now,  when  the  conditions 
are  reversed,  the  United  States  and  neutral  nations  were 
to  grudge  to  British  ships  liberty  to  take  similar  action. 
The  British  Government  have  no  intention  of  advising 
their  merchant  shipping  to  use  foreign  flags  as  general 
practice  or  to  resort  to  them  otherwise  than  for  escaping 
capture  or  destruction. 

"The  obligation  upon  a  belligerent  warship  to  ascer- 
tain definitely  for  itself  the  nationality  and  character  of 
a  merchant  vessel  before  capturing  it  and  "a  fortiori" 
before  sinking  and  destroying  it  has  been  universally 
recognized.  If  that  obligation  is  fulfilled,  hoisting  a  neu- 
tral flag  on  board  a  British  vessel  can  not  possibly  en- 
danger neutral  shipping  and  the  British  Government  hold 
that  if  loss  to  neutrals  is  caused  by  disregard  of  this  obli- 
gation it  is  upon  the  enemy  vessel  disregarding  it  and 
upon  the  Government  giving  orders  that  it  should  be  dis- 
regarded that  the  sole  responsibility  for  injury  to  neutrals 
ought  to  rest." 


Secretary  of  State  Bryan  to  Ambassador  W.  H.  Page 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  February  20,  1915. 

You  will  please  deliver  to  Sir  Edward  Grey  the  fol- 
lowing identic  note  which  we  are  sending  England  and 
Germany : 

In  view  of  the  correspondence  which  has  passed  be- 
tween this  Government  and  Great  Britain  and  Germany 


212  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

respectively,  relative  to  the  Declaration  of  a  war  zone 
by  the  German  Admiralty  and  the  use  of  neutral  flags 
by  British  merchant  vessels,  this  Government  ventures  to 
express  the  hope  that  the  two  belligerent  Governments 
may,  through  reciprocal  concessions,  find  a  basis  for 
agreement  which  will  relieve  neutral  ships  engaged  in 
peaceful  commerce  from  the  great  dangers  which  they 
will  incur  in  the  high  seas  adjacent  to  the  coasts  of  the 
belligerents. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  respectfully  sug- 
gests that  an  agreement  in  terms  like  the  following  might 
be  entered  into.  This  suggestion  is  not  to  be  regarded  as 
in  any  sense  a  proposal  made  by  this  Government,  for  it 
of  course  fully  recognizes  that  it  is  not  its  privilege  to 
propose  terms  of  agreement  between  Great  Britain  and 
Germany,  even  though  the  matter  be  one  in  which  it  and 
the  people  of  the  United;  States  are  directly  and  deeply 
interested.  It  is  merely  venturing  to  take  the  liberty 
which  it  hopes  may  be"1  accorded  a  sincere  friend  desirous 
of  embarrassing  neither  nation  involved  and  of  serving, 
if  it  may,  the  common  interests  of  humanity.  The  course 
outlined  is  offered  in  the  hope  that  it  may  draw  forth 
the  views  and  elicit  the  suggestions  of  the  British  and 
German  Governments  on  a  matter  of  capital  interest  to 
the  whole  world. 

Germany  and  Great  Britain  to  agree: 

1.  That  neither  will  sow  any  floating  mines,  whether 
upon  the  high  seas  or  in  territorial  waters ;  that  neither 
will  plant  on  the  high  seas  anchored  mines  except  within 
cannon  range  of  harbors  for  defensive  purposes  only; 
and  that  all  mines  shall  bear  the  stamp  of  the  Govern- 
ment planting  them  and  be  so  constructed  as  to  become 
harmless  if  separated  from  their  moorings. 

2.  That  neither  will  use  submarines  to  attack  mer- 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  213 

chant  vessels  of  any  nationality  except  to  enforce  the 
right  of  visit  and  search. 

3.  That  each  will  require  their  respective  merchant 
vessels  not  to  use  neutral  flags  for  the  purpose  of  disguise 
or  ruse  de  guerre. 

Germany  to  agree: 

That  all  importations  of  food  or  foodstuffs  from  the 
United  States  (and  from  such  other  neutral  countries  as 
may  ask  it)  into  Germany  shall  he  consigned  to  agencies 
to  be  designated  by  the  United  States  Government ;  that 
these  American  agencies  shall  have  entire  charge  and  con- 
trol without  interference  on  the  part  of  the  German  Gov- 
ernment, of  the  receipt  and  distribution  of  such  impor- 
tations, and  shall  distribute  them  solely  to  retail  dealers 
bearing  licenses  from  the  German  Government  entitling 
them  to  receive  and  furnish  such  food  and  foodstuffs  to 
noncombatants  only;  that  any  violation  of  the  terms  of 
the  retailers'  licenses  shall  work  a  forfeiture  of  their 
rights  to  receive  such  food  and  foodstuffs  for  this  pur- 
pose ;  and  that  such  food  and  foodstuffs  will  not  be  requi- 
sitioned by  the  German  Government  for  any  purpose 
whatsoever  or  be  diverted  to  the  use  of  the  armed  forces  of 
Germany. 

Great  Britain  to  agree : 

That  food  and  foodstuffs  will  not  be  placed  upon  the 
absolute  contraband  list  and  that  shipments  of  such  com- 
modities will  not  be  interfered  with  or  detained  by  British 
authorities  if  consigned  to  agencies  designated  by  the 
United  States  Government  in  Germany  for  the  receipt 
and  distribution  of  such  cargoes  to  licensed  German  re- 
tailers for  distribution  solely  to  the  noncombatant  popu- 
lation. 

In  submitting  this  proposed  basis  of  agreement  this 
Government  does  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  admitting 


214  JSISTOKY-MAKLNG  DOCUMENTS 

or  denying  any  belligerent  or  neutral  right  established  by 
the  principles  of  international  law,  but  would  consider 
the  agreement,  if  acceptable  to  the  interested  powers,  a 
modus  vivendi  based  upon  expediency  rather  than  legal 
right  and  as  not  binding  upon  the  United  States  either  in 
its  present  form  or  in  a  modified  form  until  accepted  by 
this  Government. 


Ambassador  Gerard  to  the  Secretary  of  State 

American  Embassy, 
Berlin,  March  1,  1915. 

Following  is  translation  of  the  German  reply : 
"The  undersigned  has  the  honor  to  inform  His  Excel- 
lency, Mr.  James  W.  Gerard,  Ambassador  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  in  reply  to  the  note  of  the  22d  instant, 
that  the  Imperial  German  Government  have  taken  note 
with  great  interest  of  the  suggestion  of  the  American 
Government  that  certain  principles  for  the  conduct  of 
maritime  war  on  the  part  of  Germany  and  England  be 
agreed  upon  for  the  protection  of  neutral  shipping.  They 
see  therein  new  evidence  of  the  friendly  feelings  of  the 
American  Government  toward  the  German  Government 
which  are  fully  reciprocated  by  Germany. 

"  It  is  in  accordance  with  Germany's  wishes  also  to  have 
maritime  war  conducted  according  to  rules  which  without 
discriminately  restricting  one  or  the  other  of  the  bellig- 
erent powers  in  the  use  of  their  means  of  warfare,  are 
equally  considerate  of  the  interests  of  neutrals  and  the 
dictates  of  humanity.  Consequently  it  was  intimated  ip 
the  German  note  of  the  16th  instant  that  observation  of 
the  Declaration  of  London  on  the  part  of  Germany's  ad- 


HISTOEY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  215 

versaries  would  create  a  new  situation  from  which  the 
German  Government  would  gladly  draw  the  proper 
conclusions. 

"Proceeding  from  this  view,  the  German  Government 
have  carefully  examined  the  suggestion  of  the  American 
Government  and  believe  that  they  can  actually  see  in  it 
a  suitable  basis  for  the  practical  solution  of  the  ques- 
tions which  have  arisen. 

"With  regard  to  the  various  points  of  the  American 
note  they  beg  to  make  the  following  remarks : 

"1.  With  regard  to  the  sowing  of  mines,  the  German 
Government  would  be  willing  to  agree  as  suggested  not 
to  use  floating  mines  and  to  have  anchored  mines  con- 
structed as  indicated.  Moreover,  they  agree  to  put  the 
stamp  of  the  Government  on  all  mines  to  be  planted. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  does  not  appear  to  them  to  be 
feasible  for  the  belligerents  wholly  to  forego  the  use  of 
anchored  mines  for  offensive  purposes. 

"2.  The  German  Government  would  undertake  not 
to  use  their  submarines  to  attack  mercantile  vessels  of 
any  flag  except  when  necessary  to  enforce  the  right  of 
visit  and  search.  Should  the  enemy  nationality  of  the 
vessel  or  the  presence  of  contraband  be  ascertained 
submarine  would  proceed  in  accordance  with  the  gen- 
eral rules  of  international  law. 

"3.  As  provided  in  the  American  note,  this  restric- 
tion of  the  use  of  the  submarines  is  contingent  on  the 
fact  that  enemy  mercantile  abstain  from  the  use  of  the 
neutral  flag  and  other  neutral  distinctive  marks.  It 
would  appear  to  be  a  matter  of  course  that  such  mer- 
cantile also  abstain  from  arming  themselves  and  from 
all  resistance  by  force,  since  such  procedure  contrary 
to  international  law  would  render  impossible  any  action 
of  the  submarines  in  accordance  with  international  law. 


216  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

"4.  The  regulation  of  legitimate  importations  of 
food  into  Germany  suggested  by  the  American  Govern- 
ment appears  to  be  in  general  acceptable.  Such  regula- 
tion would,  of  course,  be  confined  to  importations  by 
sea,  but  that  would  on  the  other  hand  include  indirect 
importations  by  way  of  neutral  ports.  The  German 
Government  would,  therefore,  be  willing  to  make  the 
declarations  of  the  nature  provided  in  the  American 
note  so  that  the  use  of  the  imported  food  and  foodstuffs 
solely  by  the  non-combatant  population  would  be  guar- 
anteed. The  Imperial  Government  must,  however,  in 
addition  (*  *  *)  having  the  importation  of  other  raw 
material  used  by  the  economic  system  of  non-combat- 
ants including  forage  permitted.  To  that  end  the 
enemy  Governments  would  have  to  permit  the  free  entry 
into  Germany  of  the  raw  material  mentioned  in  the  free 
list  of  the  Declaration  of  London  and  to  treat  materials 
included  in  the  list  of  conditional  contraband  according 
to  the  same  principles  as  food  and  foodstuffs. 

"The  German  Government  venture  to  hope  that  the 
agreement  for  which  the  American  Government  have 
paved  the  way  may  be  reached  after  due  consideration 
of  the  remarks  made  above,  and  that  in  this  way  peace- 
able neutral  shipping  and  trade  will  not  have  to  suffer 
any  more  than  is  absolutely  necessary  from  the  unavoid- 
able effect  of  maritime  war.  These  effects  could  be  still 
further  reduced  if,  as  was  pointed  out  in  the  German 
note  of  the  16th  instant,  some  way  could  be  found  to 
exclude  the  shipping  of  munitions  of  war  from  neutral 
countries  to  belligerents  on  ships  of  any  nationality. 

"The  German  Government  must,  of  course,  reserve  a 
definite  statement  of  their  position  until  such  time  as 
they  may  receive  further  information  from  the  Ameri- 
can Government  enabling  them  to  see  what  obligations 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  217 

the  British  Government  are  on  their  part  willing  to 
assume". 

"The  undersigned  avails  himself  of  this  occasion,  etc. 

"(Signed)  VON  JAGOW. 

"Dated  Foreign  Office,  Berlin,  February  28,  1915." 


The  British  Ambassador  to  the  Secretary  of  State 

Germany  has  declared  that  the  English  Channel,  the 
north  and  west  coasts  of  France,  and  the  waters  around 
the  British  Isles  are  a  war  area  and  has  officially  notified 
that  all  enemy  ships  found  in  that  area  will  be  destroyed 
and  that  neutral  vessels  may  be  exposed  to  danger. 
This  is  in  effect  a  claim  to  torpedo  at  sight,  without 
regard  to  the  safety  of  the  crew  or  passengers,  any 
merchant  vessel  under  any  flag.  As  it  is  not  in  the 
power  of  the  German  Admiralty  to  maintain  any  sur- 
face cf aft  in  these  waters,  this  attack  can  only  be  deliv- 
ered by  submarine  agency. 

The  law  and  custom  of  nations  in  regard  to  attack  on 
commerce  have  always  presumed  that  the  first  duty  of 
the  captor  of  a  merchant  vessel  is  to  bring  it  before  a 
prize  court  where  it  may  be  tried,  where  the  regularity 
of  the  capture  may  be  challenged  and  where  neutrals 
may  recover  their  cargoes.  The  sinking  of  prizes  is 
in  itself  a  questionable  act  to  be  resorted  to  only  in 
extraordinary  circumstances  and  after  provision  has 
been  made  for  the  safety  of  all  the  crew  or  passeners, 
if  there  are  passengers  on  board.  The  responsibility 
for  discriminating  between  neutral  and  enemy  vessels, 
and  between  neutral  and  enemy  cargo,  obviously  rests 
with  the  attacking  ship,  whose  duty  is  to  verify  the 
status  and  character  of  the  vessel  and  cargo  and  to 


218  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

preserve  all  papers  before  sinking  or  even  capturing  it. 
So,  also,  is  the  humane  duty  of  providing  for  the  safety 
of  the  crews  of  merchant  vessels,  whether  neutral  or 
enemy,  an  obligation  upon  every  belligerent. 

It  is  upon  this  basis  that  all  previous  discussions  of 
the  law  for  regulating  warfare  at  sea  have  proceeded. 
A  German  submarine,  however,  fulfills  none  of  these 
obligations ;  she  enjoys  no  local  command  of  the  waters 
in  which  she  operates;  she  does  not  take  her  captures 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  a  prize  court;  she  carries  no 
prize  crew  which  she  can  put  on  board  a  prize ;  she  uses 
no  effective  means  of  discriminating  between  a  neutral 
and  an  enemy  vessel ;  she  does  not  receive  on  board  for 
safety  the  crew  and  passengers  of  the  vessel  she  sinks ; 
her  methods  of  warfare  are  therefore  entirely  outside 
the  scope  of  any  of  the  international  instruments  regu- 
lating operations  against  commerce  in  time  of  war. 
The  German  declaration  substitutes  indiscriminate 
destruction  for  regulated  capture.  Germany  is  adopt- 
ing these  methods  against  peaceful  traders  and  non- 
combatant  crews  with  the  avowed  object  of  preventing 
commodities  of  all  kinds,  including  food  for  the  civil 
population,  from  reaching  or  leaving  the  British  Isles 
or  northern  Prance. 

Her  opponents  are  therefore  driven  to  frame  retalia- 
tory measures  in  order  in  their  turn  to  prevent  com- 
modities of  any  kind  from  reaching  or  leaving  Germany. 
These  measures  will,  however,  be  enforced  by  the  Brit- 
ish and  French  Governments  without  risk  to  neutral 
ships  or  to  neutral  or  non-combatant  life  and  in  strict 
observance  of  the  dictates  of  humanity.  The  British 
and  French  Governments  will  therefore  hold  themselves 
free  to  detain  and  take  into  port  ships  carrying  goods 
of  presumed  enemy  destination,  ownership,  or  origin. 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  219 

It  is  not  intended  to  confiscate  such  vessels  or  cargoes 
unless  they  would  otherwise  be  liable  to  condemnation. 
The  treatment  of  vessels  and.  cargoes  which  have  sailed 
before  this  date  will  not  be  affected. 

CECIL  SPRING  RICE. 
British  Embassy,  Washington,  March  1, 1915. 


Secretary  of  State  Bryan  to  Ambassador  Page 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  March  5,  1915. 

In  regard  to  the  recent  communications  received  from 
the  British  and  French  Governments  concerning  re- 
straints upon  commerce  with  Germany,  please  communi- 
cate with  the  British  foreign  office  in  the  sense  follow- 
ing: 

The  difficulty  of  determining  action  upon  the  British 
and  French  declarations  of  intended  retaliation  upon 
commerce  with  Germany  lies  in  the  nature  of  the  pro- 
posed measures  in  their  relation  to  commerce  by 
neutrals. 

While  it  appears  that  the  intention  is  to  interfere  with 
and  take  into  custody  all  ships,  both  outgoing  and  in- 
coming, trading  with  Germany,  which  is  in  effect  a 
blockade  of  German  ports,  the  rule  of  blockade,  that  a 
ship  attempting  to  enter  or  leave  a  German  port  regard- 
less of  the  character  of  its  cargo  may  be  condemned,  is 
not  asserted. 

The  language  of  the  declaration  is  "the  British  and 
French  Governments  will,  therefore,  hold  themselves 
free  to  detain  and  take  into  port  ships  carrying  goods 
of  presumed  enemy  destination,  ownership,  or  origin. 


220  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

It  is  not  intended  to  confiscate  such  vessels  or  cargoes 
unless  they  would  otherwise  be  liable  to  condemnation." 

The  first  sentence  claims  a  right  pertaining  only  to  a 
state  of  blockade.  The  last  sentence  proposes  a  treat- 
ment of  ships  and  cargoes  as  if  no  blockade  existed. 
The  two  together  present  a  proposed  course  of  action 
previously  unknown  to  international  law. 

As  a  consequence  neutrals  have  no  standard  by  which 
to  measure  their  rights  or  to  avoid  danger  to  their  ships 
and  cargoes.  The  paradoxical  situation  thus  created 
should  be  changed  and  the  declaring  powers  ought  to 
assert  whether  they  rely  upon  the  rules  governing  a 
blockade  or  the  rules  applicable  when  no  blockade 
exists. 

The  declaration  presents  other  perplexities. 

The  last  sentence  quoted  indicates  that  the  rules  of 
contraband  are  to  be  applied  to  cargoes  detained.  The 
rule  covering  non-contraband  articles  carried  in  neutral 
bottoms  is  that  the  cargo  shall  be  released  and  the  ships 
allowed  to  proceed.  This  rule  can  not,  under  the  first 
sentence  quoted,  be  applied  as  to  destination.  "What,  then, 
is  to  be  done  with  a  cargo  of  non-contraband  goods 
detained  under  the  declaration?  The  same  question 
may  be  asked^as  to  conditional  contraband  cargoes. 

The  foregoing  comments  apply  to  cargoes  destined 
for  Germany.  Cargoes  coming  out  of  German  ports 
present  another  problem  under  the  terms  of  the  declara- 
tion. Under  the  rules  governing  enemy  exports  only 
goods  owned  by  enemy  subjects  in  enemy  bottoms  are 
subject  to  seizure  and  condemnation.  Yet  by  the  decla- 
ration it  is  purposed  to  seize  and  take  into  port  all  goods 
of  enemy ' '  ownership  and  origin. ' '  The  word ' '  origin ' ' 
is  particularly  significant.  The  origin  of  goods  destined 
to  neutral  territory  on  neutral  ships  is  not  and  never 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  221 

has  been  a  ground  for  forfeiture,  except  in  case  a  block- 
ade is  declared  and  maintained.  What,  then,  would 
the  seizure  amount  to  in  the  present  case  except  to 
delay  the  delivery  of  the  goods  ?  The  declaration  does 
not  indicate  what  disposition  would  be  made  of  such 
cargoes  if  owned  by  a  neutral  or  if  owned  by  an  enemy 
subject.  Would  a  different  rule  be  applied  according 
to  ownership  ?  If  so,  upon  what  principles  of  interna- 
tional law  would  it  rest?  And  upon  what  rule  if  no 
blockade  is  declared  and  maintained  could  the  cargo  of 
a  neutral  ship  sailing  out  of  a  German  port  be  con- 
demned? If  it  is  not  condemned,  what  other  legal 
course  is  there  but  to  release  it  ? 

While  this  Government  is  fully  alive  to  the  possibility 
that  the  methods  of  modern  naval  warfare,  particularly 
in  the  use  of  the  submarine  for  both  defensive  and 
offensive  operations,  may  make  the  former  means  of 
maintaining  a  blockade  a  physical  impossibility,  it  feels 
that  it  can  be  urged  with  great  force  that  there  should 
be  also  some  limit  to  "the  radius  of  activity,"  and  espe- 
cially so  if  this  action  by  the  belligerents  can  be  con- 
strued to  be  a  blockade.  It  would  certainly  create  a 
serious  state  of  affairs  if,  for  example,  an  American 
vessel  laden  with  a  cargo  of  German  origin  should 
escape  the  British  patrol  in  European  waters  only  to  be 
held  up  by  a  cruiser  off  New  York  and  taken  into 
Halifax. 

Similar  cablegram  sent  to  Paris. 


222  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

THE  ATTITUDE  OF  FRANCE 

Ambassador  Sharp  to  the  Secretary  of  State 

'American  Embassy, 
Paris,  March  14,  1915. 

French  Government  replies  as  follows : 

"In  a  letter  dated  March  7  Your  Excellency  was  good 
enough  to  draw  my  attention  to  the  views  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  regarding  the  recent  communi- 
cations from  the  French  and  British  Governments  con- 
cerning a  restriction  to  be  laid  upon  commerce  with 
Germany.  According  to  Your  Excellency's  letter,  the 
declaration  made  by  the  Allied  Governments  presents 
some  uncertainty  as  regards  its  application,  concerning 
which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  desires  to  be 
enlightened  in  order  to  determine  what  attitude  it  should 
take. 

"At  the  same  time  Your  Excellency  notified  me  that 
while  granting  the  possibility  of  using  new  methods  of 
retaliation  against  the  new  use  to  which  submarines  have 
been  put,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  was  some- 
what apprehensive  that  the  allied  belligerents  might  (if 
their  action  is  to  be  construed  as  constituting  a  blockade) 
capture  in  waters  near  America  any  ships  which  might 
have  escaped  the  cruisers  patrolling  European  waters. 
In  acknowledging  receipt  of  Your  Excellency's  commu- 
nication I  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  Republic  has  not  failed  to  consider  this  point 
as  presented  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and 
I  beg  to  specify  clearly  the  conditions  of  application,  as 
far  as  my  Government  is  concerned,  of  the  declaration  of 
the  Allied  Governments.  As  well  set  forth  by  the  Federal 
Government  the  old  methods  of  blockade  can  not  be  en- 


HISTOKY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  223 

tirely  adhered  to  in  view  of  the  use  Germany  has  made 
of  her  submarines,  and  also  by  reason  of  the  geographical 
situation  of  that  country.  In  answer  to  the  challenge 
to  the  neutral  as  well  as  to  its  own  adversaries,  contained 
in  the  declaration  by  which  the  German  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment stated  that  it  considered  the  seas  surrounding 
Great  Britain  and  the  French  coast  on  the  Channel  as  a 
military  zone,  and  warned  neutral  vessels  not  to  enter  the 
same  on  account  of  the  danger  they  would  run,  the  Allied 
Governments  have  been  obliged  to  examine  what  meas- 
ures they  could  adopt  to  interrupt  all  maritime  commu- 
nication with  the  German  Empire  and  thus  keep  it  block- 
aded by  the  naval  power  of  the  two  allies,  at  the  same 
time,  however,  safeguarding  as  much  as  possible  the  legiti- 
mate interests  of  neutral  powers,  and  respecting  the  laws 
of  humanity,  which  no  crime  of  their  enemy  will  induce 
them  to  violate. 

"The  Government  of  the  Republic,  therefore,  reserves 
to  itself  the  right  of  bringing  into  a  French  or  allied  port 
any  ship  carrying  a  cargo  presumed  to  be  of  German 
origin,  destination,  or  ownership,  but  it  will  not  go  to 
the  length  of  seizing  any  neutral  ship  except  in  case  of 
contraband.  The  discharged  cargo  shall  not  be  confis- 
cated. In  the  event  of  a  neutral  proving  his  lawful  own- 
ership of  merchandise  destined  to  Germany,  he  shall  be 
entirely  free  to  dispose  of  same,  subject  to  certain  condi- 
tions. In  case  the  owner  of  the  goods  is  a  German  they 
shall  simply  be  sequestrated  during  the  war. 

"  Merchandise  of  enemy  origin  shall  only  be  seques- 
trated when  it  is  at  the  same  time  the  property  of  an 
enemy ;  merchandise  belonging  to  neutrals  shall  be  held 
at  the  disposal  of  its  owner  to  be  returned  to  the  port  of 
departure. 

"As  Your  Excellency  will  observe,  these  measures, 


224  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

while  depriving  the  enemy  of  important  resources,  respect 
the  rights  of  neutrals  and  will  not  in  any  way  jeopardize 
private  property,  as  even  the  enemy  owner  will  only 
suffer  from  the  suspension  of  the  enjoyment  of  his  rights 
during  the  term  of  hostilities. 

''The  Government  of  the  Republic,  being  desirous  of 
allowing  neutrals  every  facility  to  enforce  their  claims, 
has  decided  to  give  the  prize  court  (an  independent  tri- 
bunal) cognizance  of  these  questions,  and  in  order  to 
give  the  neutrals  as  little  trouble  as  possible  it  has  speci- 
fied that  the  prize  court  shall  give  sentence  within  eight 
days,  counting  from  the  date  on  which  the  case  shall 
have  been  brought  before  it. 

"I  do  not  doubt,  Mr.  Ambassador,  that  the  Federal 
Government,  comparing  on  the  one  hand  the  unspeak- 
able violence  with  which  the  German  military  government 
threatens  neutrals,  the  criminal  actions  unknown  in  mari- 
time annals  already  perpetrated  against  neutral  prop- 
erty and  ships  and  even  against  the  lives  of  neutral  sub- 
jects or  citizens,  and  on  the  other  hand  the  measures 
adopted  by  the  Allied  Governments  of  Prance  and  Great 
Britain  respecting  the  laws  of  humanity  and  the  rights 
of  individuals,  will  readily  perceive  that  the  latter  have 
not  overstepped  their  strict  rights  as  belligerents. 

"Finally,  I  am  anxious  to  assure  you  that  it  is  not  and 
it  has  never  been  the  intention  of  the  Government  of  the 
Republic  to  extend  the  action  of  its  cruisers  against  enemy 
merchandise  beyond  European  seas,  the  Mediterranean 
included." 

SHABP. 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  225 

CHARGES  AGAINST  GERMANY 

Ambassador  W.  H.  Page  to  the  Secretary  of  State 

American  Embassy, 
London,  March  15,  1915. 

Following  is  the  full  text  of  a  memorandum  dated 
March  13,  which  Grey  handed  me  today: 

' '  On  the  22d  of  February  last  I  received  a  communica- 
tion from  Your  Excellency  of  the  identic  note  addressed 
to  His  Majesty 's  Government  and  to  Germany,  respecting 
an  agreement  on  certain  points  as  to  the  conduct  of  the 
war  at  sea.  The  reply  of  the  German  Government  to 
this  note  has  been  published  and  it  is  not  understood  from 
the  reply  that  the  German  Government  are  prepared  to 
abandon  the  practice  of  sinking  British  merchant  vessels 
by  submarines,  and  it  is  evident  from  their  reply  that 
they  will  not  abandon  the  use  of  mines  for  offensive  pur- 
poses on  the  high  seas  as  contrasted  with  the  use  of  mines 
for  defensive  purposes  only  within  cannon  range  of  their 
own  harbors,  as  suggested  by  the  Government  of  the 
United  States.  This  being  so,  it  might  appear  unneces- 
sary for  the  British  Government  to  make  any  further 
reply  than  to  take  note  of  the  German  answer.  "We 
desire,  however,  to  take  the  opportunity  of  making  a 
fuller  statement  of  the  whole  position  and  of  our  feeling 
with  regard  to  it.  "We  recognize  with  sympathy  the 
desire  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  see  the 
European  war  conducted  in  accordance  with  the  previ- 
ously recognized  rules  of  international  law  and  the  dic- 
tates of  humanity.  It  is  thus  that  the  British  forces  have 
conducted  the  war,  and  we  are  not  aware  that  these  forces, 
either  naval  or  military,  can  have  laid  to  their  charge 
any  improper  proceedings,  either  in  the  conduct  of  hos- 


226  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

tilities  or  in  the  treatment  of  prisoners  or  wounded.  On 
the  German  side  it  has  been  very  different. 

' '  1.  The  treatment  of  civilian  inhabitants  in  Belgium 
and  the  north  of  Prance  has  been  made  public  by  the 
Belgian  and  French  Governments  and  by  those  who  have 
had  experience  of  it  at  first  hand.  Modern  history 
affords  no  precedent  for  the  sufferings  that  have  been 
inflicted  on  the  defenseless  and  noncombatant  popula- 
tion in  the  territory  that  has  been  in  German  military 
occupation.  Even  the  food  of  the  population  was  confis- 
cated until  in  Belgium  an  International  Commission, 
largely  influenced  by  American  generosity  and  con- 
ducted under  American  auspices,  came  to  the  relief  of 
the  population  and  secured  from  the  German  Government 
a  promise  to  spare  what  food  was  still  left  in  the  country 
though  the  Germans  still  continue  to  make  levies  in  money 
upon  the  defenseless  population  for  the  support  of  the 
German  Army. 

' '  2.  We  have  from  time  to  time  received  most  terrible 
accounts  of  the  barbarous  treatment  to  which  British 
officers  and  soldiers  have  been  exposed  after  they  have 
been  taken  prisoner,  while  being  conveyed  to  German 
prison  camps;  one  or  two  instances  have  already  been 
given  to  the  United  States  Government,  founded  upon 
authentic  and  first-hand  evidence  which  is  beyond  doubt. 
Some  evidence  has  been  received  of  the  hardships  to 
which  British  prisoners  of  war  are  subjected  in  the  prison 
camps,  contrasting,  we  believe,  most  unfavorably  with 
the  treatment  of  German  prisoners  in  this  country.  We 
have  proposed,  with  the  consent  of  the  United  States 
Government,  that  a  commission  of  United  States  officers 
should  be  permitted  in  each  country  to  inspect  the  treat- 
ment of  prisoners  of  war.  The  United  States  Govern- 
ment have  been  unable  to  obtain  any  reply  from  the 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  227 

German  Government  to  this  proposal  and  we  remain  in 
continuing  anxiety  and  apprehension  as  to  the  treatment 
of  British  prisoners  of  war  in  Germany. 

"3.  At  the  very  outset  of  the  war  a  German  mine 
layer  was  discovered  laying  a  mine  field  on  the  high  seas. 
Further  mine  fields  have  been  laid  from  time  to  time  with- 
out warning,  and  so  far  as  we  know  are  still  being  laid 
on  the  high  seas,  and  many  neutral  as  well  as  British 
vessels  have  been  sunk  by  them. 

"4.  At  various  times  during  the  war  German  subma- 
rines have  stopped  and  sunk  British  merchant  vessels, 
thus  making  the  sinking  of  merchant  vessels  a  general 
practice,  though  it  was  admitted  previously,  if  at  all, 
only  as  an  exception,  the  general  rule  to  which  the  British 
Government  have  adhered  being  that  merchant  vessels, 
if  captured,  must  be  taken  before  a  prize  court.  In  one 
case  already  quoted  in  a  note  to  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment, a  neutral  vessel  carrying  foodstuffs  to  an  un- 
fortified town  in  Great  Britain  has  been  sunk.  Another 
case  is  now  reported  in  which  a  German  armed  cruiser 
has  sunk  an  American  vessel,  the  William  P.  Frye,  carry- 
ing a  cargo  of  wheat  from  Seattle  to  Queenstown.  In 
both  cases  the  cargoes  were  presumably  destined  for  the 
civil  population.  Even  the  cargoes  in  such  circumstances 
should  not  have  been  condemned  without  the  decision  of 
a  prize  court,  much  less  should  the  vessels  have  been  sunk. 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  both  these  cases  occurred  before  the 
detention  by  the  British  authorities  of  the  Wilhelmina 
and  her  cargo  of  foodstuffs,  which  the  German  Govern- 
ment allege  is  the  justification  for  their  own  action.  The 
Germans  have  announced  their  intention  of  sinking  Brit- 
ish merchant  vessels  by  torpedo  without  notice  and  with- 
out any  provision  for  the  safety  of  the  crew.  They  have 
Already  carried  out  this  intention  in  the  case  of  neutral 


228  HISTOKY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

as  well  as  of  British  vessels,  and  a  number  of  noncom- 
batant  and  innocent  lives  on  British  vessels,  unarmed  and 
defenseless,  have  been  destroyed  in  this  way. 

"5.  Unfortified,  open,  and  defenseless  towns,  such  as 
Scarborough,  Yarmouth,  and  Whitby,  have  been  delib- 
erately and  wantonly  bombarded  by  German  ships  of  war, 
causing  in  some  cases  considerable  loss  of  civilian  life, 
including  women  and  children. 

"6.  German  aircraft  have  dropped  bombs  on  the  east 
coast  of  England  where  there  were  no  military  or  strate- 
gic points  to  be  attacked. 

"On  the  other  hand,  I  am  aware  of  but  two  criticisms 
that  have  been  made  on  British  action  in  all  these 
respects:  (1)  It  is  said  that  the  British  naval  authori- 
ties also  have  laid  some  anchored  mines  on  the  high 
seas.  They  have  done  so,  but  the  mines  were  anchored 
and  so  constructed  that  they  would  be  harmless  if  they 
went  adrift,  and  no  mines  whatever  were  laid  by  the 
British  naval  authorities  till  many  weeks  after  the  Ger- 
mans had  made  a  regular  practice  of  laying  mines  on 
the  high  seas.  (2)  It  is  said  that  the  British  Govern- 
ment have  departed  from  the  view  of  international  law 
which  they  had  previously  maintained,  that  foodstuffs 
destined  for  the  civil  population  should  never  be  inter- 
fered with,  this  charge  being  founded  on  the  submission 
to  a  prize  court  of  the  cargo  of  the  Wilhelmina.  The  spe- 
cial considerations  affecting  this  cargo  have  already  been 
presented  in  a  memorandum  to  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment, and  I  need  not  repeat  them  here.  Inasmuch 
as  the  stoppage  of  all  foodstuffs  is  an  admitted  conse- 
quence of  blockade,  it  is  obvious  that  there  can  be  no  uni- 
versal rule  based  on  considerations  of  morality  and  hu- 
manity which  is  contrary  to  this  practice.  The  right  to 
stop  foodstuffs  destined  for  the  civil  population  must 


HISTOKY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  229 

therefore  in  any  case  be  admitted  if  an  effective  '  cordon ' 
controlling  intercourse  with  the  enemy  is  drawn,  an- 
nounced, and  maintained.  Moreover,  independently  of 
rights  arising  from  belligerent  action  in  the  nature  of 
blockade,  some  other  nations,  differing  from  the  opinion 
of  the  Governments  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Brit- 
ain, have  held  that  to  stop  the  food  of  the  civil  population 
is  a  natural  and  legitimate  method  of  bringing  pressure 
to  bear  on  an  enemy  country,  as  it  is  upon  the  defense  of 
a  besieged  town.  It  is  also  upheld  on  the  authority  of 
both  Prince  Bismarck  and  Count  Caprivi,  and  therefore 
presumably  is  not  repugnant  to  German  morality.  The 
following  are  the  quotations  from  Prince  Bismarck  and 
Count  Caprivi  on  this  point.  Prince  Bismarck,  in  an- 
swering, in  1885,  an  application  from  the  Kiel  Chamber 
of  Commerce  for  a  statement  of  the  view  of  the  German 
Government  on  the  question  of  the  right  to  declare  as 
contraband  foodstuffs  that  were  not  intended  for  military 
forces,  said,  "I  reply  to  the  chamber  of  commerce  that 
any  disadvantage  our  commercial  and  carrying  interests 
may  suffer  by  the  treatment  of  rice  as  contraband  of  war 
does  not  justify  our  opposing  a  measure  which  it  has  been 
thought  fit  to  take  in  carrying  on  a  foreign  war.  Every 
war  is  a  calamity  which  entails  evil  consequences,  not 
only  on  the  combatants  but  also  on  neutrals.  These  evils 
may  easily  be  increased  by  the  interference  of  a  neutral 
power  with  the  way  in  which  a  third  carries  on  the  war 
to  the  disadvantage  of  the  subjects  of  the  interfering 
power,  and  by  this  means  German  commerce  might  be 
weighted  with  far  heavier  losses  than  a  transitory  pro- 
hibition of  the  rice  trade  in  Chinese  waters.  The  measure 
in  question  has  for  its  object  the  shortening  of  the  war  by 
increasing  the  difficulties  of  the  enemy,  and  is  a  justifiable 
step  in  war  if  impartially  enforced  against  all  neutral 


230  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

ships. '  Count  Caprivi,  during  a  discussion  in  the  German 
Reichstag  on  the  4th  of  March,  1892,  on  the  subject  of  the 
importance  of  international  protection  for  private  prop- 
erty at  sea,  made  the  following  statements:  'A  country 
may  be  dependent  for  her  food  or  for  her  raw  products 
upon  her  trade.  In  fact,  it  may  be  absolutely  necessary 
to  destroy  the  enemy's  trade.'  *  *  *  'The  private 
introduction  of  provisions  into  Paris  was  prohibited 
during  the  siege,  and  in  the  same  way  a  nation  would  be 
justified  in  preventing  the  import  of  food  and  raw  prod- 
uce.' The  Government  of  Great  Britain  have  frankly 
declared,  in  concert  with  the  Government  of  France,  their 
intention  to  meet  the  German  attempt  to  stop  all  supplies 
of  every  kind  from  leaving  or  entering  British  or  French 
ports  by  themselves  stopping  supplies  going  to  or  from 
Germany  for  this  end.  The  British  fleet  has  instituted 
a  blockade,  effectively  controlling  by  cruiser  '  cordon '  all 
passage  to  and  from  Germany  by  sea.  The  difference 
between  the  two  policies  is,  however,  that  while  our  object 
is  the  same  as  that  of  Germany,  we  propose  to  attain  it 
without  sacrificing  neutral  ships  or  noncombatant  lives 
or  inflicting  upon  neutrals  the  damage  that  must  be  en- 
tailed when  a  vessel  and  its  cargo  are  sunk  without  notice, 
examination,  or  trial.  I  must  emphasize  again  that  this 
measure  is  a  natural  and  necessary  consequence  of  the 
unprecedented  methods,  repugnant  to  all  law  and  moral- 
ity, which  have  been  described  above,  which  Germany 
began  to  adopt  at  the  very  outset  of  the  war,  and  the 
effects  of  which  have  been  constantly  accumulating. ' ' 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  231 

SALES  OF  MUNITIONS 

Secretary  of  State  Bryan  to  the  German  Ambassador 

[On  April  4,  1915,  the  German  Ambassador  at  Wash- 
ington, Count  J.  von  Bernstorff,  addressed  a  note  to  the 
Secretary  of  State  on  German-American  trade  and  the 
question  of  delivery  of  arms  to  the  Allies.  Mr.  Bryan's 

reply  was  as  follows:] 

Department  of  State, 

EXCELLENCY:  Washington,  April  21,  1915. 

I  have  given  thoughtful  consideration  to  your  Excel- 
lency's note  of  the  4th  of  April,  1915,  enclosing  a  mem- 
orandum of  the  same  date,  in  which  Your  Excellency 
discusses  the  action  of  this  Government  with  regard  to 
trade  between  the  United  States  and  Germany  and  the 
attitude  of  this  Government  with  regard  to  the  exporta- 
tion of  arms  from  the  United  States  to  the  nations  now 
at  war  with  Germany. 

I  must  admit  that  I  am  somewhat  at  a  loss  how  to  inter- 
pret Your  Excellency 's  treatment  of  these  matters.  There 
are  many  circumstances  connected  with  these  important 
subjects  to  which  I  would  have  expected  Your  Excellency 
to  advert,  but  of  which  you  make  no  mention,  and  there 
are  other  circumstances  to  which  you  do  refer  which  I 
would  have  supposed  to  be  hardly  appropriate  for  dis- 
cussion between  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and 
the  Government  of  Germany. 

I  shall  take  the  liberty,  therefore,  of  regarding  Your 
Excellency's  references  to  the  course  pursued  by  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  with  regard  to  inter- 
ferences with  trade  from  this  country,  such  as  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Great  Britain  have  attempted,  as  intended 
merely  to  illustrate  more  fully  the  situation  to  which  you 
desire  to  call  our  attention  and  not  as  an  invitation  to 


232  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

discuss  that  course.  Your  Excellency's  long  experience 
in  international  affairs  will  have  suggested  to  you  that 
the  relations  of  the  two  Governments  with  one  another 
can  not  wisely  be  made  a  subject  of  discussion  with  a 
third  Government,  which  can  not  be  fully  informed  as  to 
the  facts  and  which  can  not  be  fully  cognizant  of  the 
reasons  for  the  course  pursued.  I  believe,  however,  that 
I  am  justified  in  assuming  that  what  you  desire  to  call 
forth  is  a  frank  statement  of  the  position  of  this  Govern- 
ment in  regard  to  its  obligations  as  a  neutral  power. 
The  general  attitude  and  course  of  policy  of  this  Gov- 
ernment in  the  maintenance  of  its  neutrality  I  am  par- 
ticularly anxious  that  Your  Excellency  should  see  in 
their  true  light.  I  had  hoped  that  this  Government's 
position  in  these  respects  had  been  made  abundantly 
clear,  but  I  am  of  course  perfectly  willing  to  state  it 
again.  This  seems  to  me  the  more  necessary  and  desira- 
ble because,  I  regret  to  say,  the  language  which  Your 
Excellency  employs  in  your  memorandum  is  susceptible 
of  being  construed  as  impugning  the  good  faith  of  the 
United  States  in  the  performance  of  its  duties  as  a  neu- 
tral. I  take  it  for  granted  that  no  such  implication  was 
intended,  but  it  is  so  evident  that  Your  Excellency  is 
laboring  under  certain  false  impressions  that  I  can  not 
be  too  explicit  in  setting  forth  the  facts  as  they  are,  when 
fully  reviewed  and  comprehended. 

In  the  first  place,  this  Government  has  at  no  time  and 
in  no  manner  yielded  any  one  of  its  rights  as  a  neutral  to 
any  of  the  present  belligerents.  It  has  acknowledged, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  the  right  of  visit  and  search  and  the 
right  to  apply  the  rules  of  contraband  of  war  to  articles 
of  commerce.  It  has,  indeed,  insisted  upon  the  use  of 
visit  and  search  as  an  absolutely  necessary  safeguard 
against  mistaking  neutral  vessels  for  vessels  owned  by  an 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  233 

enemy  and  against  mistaking  legal  cargoes  for  illegal. 
It  has  admitted  also  the  right  of  blockade  if  actually  ex- 
ercised and  effectively  maintained.  These  are  merely 
the  well-known  limitations  which  war  places  upon  neutral 
commerce  on  the  high  seas.  But  nothing  beyond  these 
has  it  conceded.  I  call  Your  Excellency's  attention  to 
this,  notwithstanding  it  is  already  known  to  all  the  world 
as  a  consequence  of  the  publication  of  our  correspond- 
ence in  regard  to  these  matters  with  several  of  the  bellig- 
erent nations,  because  I  can  not  assume  that  you  have 
official  cognizance  of  it. 

In  the  second  place,  this  Government  attempted  to 
secure  from  the  German  and  British  Governments  mutual 
concessions  with  regard  to  the  measures  those  Govern- 
ments respectively  adopted  for  the  interruption  of  trade 
on  the  high  seas.  This  it  did,  not  of  right,  but  merely 
as  exercising  the  privileges  of  a  sincere  friend  of  both, 
parties  and  as  indicating  its  impartial  good  will.  The 
attempt  was  unsuccessful;  but  I  regret  that  Your  Ex- 
cellency did  not  deem  it  worthy  of  mention  in  modifica- 
tion of  the  impressions  you  expressed.  We  had  hoped  that 
this  act  on  our  part  had  shown  our  spirit  in  these  times 
of  distressing  war  as  our  diplomatic  correspondence  had 
shown  our  steadfast  refusal  to  acknowledge  the  right  of 
any  belligerent  to  alter  the  accepted  rules  of  war  at  sea  in 
so  far  as  they  affect  the  rights  and  interests  of  neutrals. 

In  the  third  place,  I  note  with  sincere  regret  that,  in 
discussing  the  sale  and  exportation  of  arms  by  citizens  of 
the  United  States  to  the  enemies  of  Germany,  Your  Ex- 
cellency seems  to  be  under  the  impression  that  it  was 
within  the  choice  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
notwithstanding  its  professed  neutrality  and  its  diligent 
efforts  to  maintain  it  in  other  particulars,  to  inhibit  this 
trade,  and  that  its  failure  to  do  so  manifested  an  unfair 


234  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

attitude  toward  Germany.  This  Government  holds,  as  I 
believe  Your  Excellency  is  aware,  and  as  it  is  constrained 
to  hold  in  view  of  the  present  indisputable  doctrines  of 
accepted  international  law,  that  any  change  in  its  own 
laws  of  neutrality  during  the  progress  of  a  war  which 
would  affect  unequally  the  relations  of  the  United  States 
with  the  nations  at  war  would  be  an  unjustifiable  depart- 
ure from  the  principles  of  strict  neutrality  by  which  it  has 
consistently  sought  to  direct  its  actions,  and  I  respectfully 
submit  that  none  of  the  circumstances  urged  in  Your 
Excellency's  memorandum  alters  the  principle  involved. 
The  placing  of  an  embargo  on  the  trade  in  arms  at  the 
present  time  would  constitute  such  a  change  and  be  a 
direct  violation  of  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States.  It 
will,  I  feel  assured,  be  clear  to  Your  Excellency  that, 
holding  this  view  and  considering  itself  in  honor  bound 
by  it,  it  is  out  of  the  question  for  this  Government  to 
consider  such  a  course. 

I  hope  that  Your  Excellency  will  realize  the  spirit  in 
which  I  am  drafting  this  reply.  The  friendship  between 
the  people  of  the  United  States  and  the  people  of  Ger- 
many is  so  warm  and  of  such  long  standing,  the  ties  which 
bind  them  to  one  another  in  amity  are  so  many  and  so 
strong,  that  this  Government  feels  under  a  special  com- 
pulsion to  speak  with  perfect  frankness  when  any  occa- 
sion arises  which  seems  likely  to  create  any  misunder- 
standing, however  slight  or  temporary,  between  those 
who  represent  the  Governments  of  the  two  countries.  It 
will  be  a  matter  of  gratification  to  me  if  I  have  removed 
from  Your  Excellency's  mind  any  misapprehension  you 
may  have  been  under  regarding  either  the  policy  or  the 
spirit  and  purposes  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States.  Its  neutrality  is  founded  upon  the  firm  basis 
of  conscience  and  good  will.  "W.  J.  BRYAN. 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  235 

WHEN  THE  LUSITANIA  WAS  SUNK 

Secretary  of  State  Bryan  to  Ambassador  Gerard 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  May  13,  1915. 

Please  call  on  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  and  after 
reading  to  him  this  communication  leave  with  him  a  copy. 

In  view  of  recent  acts  of  the  German  authorities  in  vio- 
lation of  American  rights  on  the  high  seas  which  cul- 
minated in  the  torpedoing  and  sinking  of  the  British 
steamship  Lusitania  on  May  7,  1915,  by  which  over  100 
American  citizens  lost  their  lives,  it  is  clearly  wise  and 
desirable  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  and 
the  Imperial  German  Government  should  come  to  a  clear 
and  full  understanding  as  to  the  grave  situation  which 
has  resulted. 

The  sinking  of  the  British  passenger  steamer  Faldba 
by  a  German  submarine  on  March  28,  through  which 
Leon  C.  Thrasher,  an  American  citizen,  was  drowned; 
the  attack  on  April  28  on  the  American  vessel  Gushing  by 
a  German  aeroplane;  the  torpedoing  on  May  1  of  the 
American  vessel  Gul flight  by  a  German  submarine,  as  a 
result  of  which  two  or  more  American  citizens  met  their 
death;  and,  finally,  the  torpedoing  and  sinking  of  the 
steamship  Lusitania,,  constitute  a  series  of  events  which 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  observed  with 
growing  concern,  distress,  and  amazement. 

Recalling  the  humane  and  enlightened  attitude  hitherto 
assumed  by  the  Imperial  German  Government  in  mat- 
ters of  international  right,  and  particularly  with  regard 
to  the  freedom  of  the  seas;  having  learned  to  recognize 
the  German  views  and  the  German  influence  in  the  field 


236  HISTOBY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

of  international  obligation  as  always  engaged  upon  the 
side  of  justice  and  humanity ;  and  having  understood  the 
instructions  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  to  its 
naval  commanders  to  be  upon  the  same  plane  of  humane 
action  prescribed  by  the  naval  codes  of  other  nations,  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  was  loath  to  believe — 
it  can  not  now  bring  itself  to  believe — that  these  acts,  so 
absolutely  contrary  to  the  rules,  the  practices,  and  the 
spirit  of  modern  warfare,  could  have  the  countenance  or 
sanction  of  that  great  Government.  It  feels  it  to  be  its 
duty,  therefore,  to  address  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment concerning  them  with  the  utmost  frankness  and 
in  the  earnest  hope  that  it  is  not  mistaken  in  expecting 
action  on  the  part  of  the  Imperial  German  Government 
which  will  correct  the  unfortunate  impressions  which 
have  been  created  and  vindicate  once  more  the  position 
of  that  Government  with  regard  to  the  sacred  freedom 
of  the  seas. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  been  apprised 
that  the  Imperial  German  Government  considered  them- 
selves to  be  obliged  by  the  extraordinary  circumstances 
of  the  present  war  and  the  measures  adopted  by  their 
adversaries  in  seeking  to  cut  Germany  off  from  all  com- 
merce, to  adopt  methods  of  retaliation  which  go  much 
beyond  the  ordinary  methods  of  warfare  at  sea,  in  the 
proclamation  of  a  war  zone  from  which  they  have  warned 
neutral  ships  to  keep  away.  This  Government  has  al- 
ready taken  occasion  to  inform  the  Imperial  German 
Government  that  it  can  not  admit  the  adoption  of  such 
measures  or  such  a  warning  of  danger  to  operate  as  in  any 
degree  an  abbreviation  of  the  rights  of  American  ship- 
masters or  of  American  citizens  bound  on  lawful  errands 
as  passengers  on  merchant  ships  of  belligerent  nation- 
ality; and  that  it  must  hold  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  237 

eminent  to  a  strict  accountability  for  any  infringement 
of  those  rights,  intentional  or  incidental.  It  does  not  under- 
stand the  Imperial  German  Government  to  question  those 
rights.  It  assumes,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  Imperial 
Government  accept,  as  of  course,  the  rule  that  the  lives 
of  noncombatants,  whether  they  be  of  neutral  citizenship 
or  citizens  of  one  of  the  nations  at  war,  can  not  lawfully 
or  rightfully  be  put  in  jeopardy  by  the  capture  or  destruc- 
tion of  an  unarmed  merchantman,  and  recognize  also,  as 
all  other  nations  do,  the  obligation  to  take  the  usual  pre- 
caution of  visit  and  search  to  ascertain  whether  a  sus- 
pected merchantman  is  in  fact  of  belligerent  nationality 
or  is  in  fact  carrying  contraband  of  war  under  a  neutral 


The  Government  of  the  United  States,  therefore,  desires 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  Imperial  German  Government 
with  the  utmost  earnestness  to  the  fact  that  the  objection 
to  their  present  method  of  attack  against  the  trade  of  their 
enemies  lies  in  the  practical  impossibility  of  employing 
submarines  in  the  destruction  of  commerce  without  dis- 
regarding those  rules  of  fairness,  reason,  justice,  and 
humanity,  which  all  modern  opinion  regards  as  impera- 
tive. It  is  practically  impossible  for  the  officers  of  a 
submarine  to  visit  a  merchantman  at  sea  and  examine 
her  papers  and  cargo.  It  is  practically  impossible  for 
them  to  make  a  prize  of  her ;  and,  if  they  can  not  put  a 
prize  crew  on  board  of  her,  they  can  not  sink  her  with- 
out leaving  her  crew  and  all  on  board  of  her  to  the  mercy 
of  the  sea  in  her  small  boats.  These  facts  it  is  under- 
stood the  Imperial  German  Government  frankly  admit. 
We  are  informed  that  in  the  instances  of  which  we  have 
spoken  time  enough  for  even  that  poor  measure  of  safety 
was  not  given,  and  in  at  least  two  of  the  cases  cited  not 
so  much  as  a  warning  was  received.  Manifestly  sub- 


238  HISTOEY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

marines  can  not  be  used  against  merchantmen,  as  the  last 
few  weeks  have  shown,  without  an  inevitable  violation 
of  many  sacred  principles  of  justice  and  humanity. 

American  citizens  act  within  their  indisputable  rights 
in  taking  their  ships  and  in  traveling  wherever  their 
legitimate  business  calls  them  upon  the  high  seas,  and 
exercise  those  rights  in  what  should  be  the  well- justified 
confidence  that  their  lives  will  not  be  endangered  by  acts 
done  in  clear  violation  of  universally  acknowledged  inter- 
national obligations,  and  certainly  in  the  confidence  that 
their  own  Government  will  sustain  them  in  the  exercise 
of  their  rights. 

There  was  recently  published  in  the  newspapers  of  the 
United  States,  I  regret  to  inform  the  Imperial  German 
Government,  a  formal  warning,  purporting  to  come  from 
the  Imperial  German  Embassy  at  Washington,  addressed 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  and  stating,  in  effect, 
that  any  citizen  of  the  United  States  who  exercised  his 
right  of  free  travel  upon  the  seas  would  do  so  at  his  peril 
if  his  journey  should  take  him  within  the  zone  of  waters 
within  which  the  Imperial  German  Navy  was  using  sub- 
marines against  the  commerce  of  Great  Britain  and 
France,  notwithstanding  the  respectful  but  very  earnest 
protest  of  his  Government,  the  Government  of  the  United  , 
States.  I  do  not  refer  to  this  for  the  purpose  of  calling 
the  attention  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  at  this 
time  to  the  surprising  irregularity  of  a  communication 
from  the  Imperial  German  Embassy  at  Washington  ad- 
dressed to  the  people  of  the  United  States  through  the 
newspapers,  but  only  for  the  purpose  of  pointing  out  that 
no  warning  that  an  unlawful  and  inhumane  act  will  be 
committed  can  possibly  be  accepted  as  an  excuse  or  pal- 
liation for  that  act  or  as  an  abatement  of  the  responsi- 
bility for  its  commission. 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  239 

Long  acquainted  as  this  Government  has  been  with 
the  character  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  and 
with  the  high  principles  of  equity  by  which  they  have  in 
the  past  been  actuated  and  guided,  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  can  not  believe  that  the  commanders 
of  the  vessels  which  committed  these  acts  of  lawlessness 
did  so  except  under  a  misapprehension  of  the  orders 
issued  by  the  Imperial  German  naval  authorities. '  It 
takes  it  for  granted  that,  at  least  within  the  practical 
possibilities  of  every  such  case,  the  commanders  even  of 
submarines  were  expected  to  do  nothing  that  would  in- 
volve the  lives  of  noncombatants  or  the  safety  of  neutral 
ships,  even  at  the  cost  of  failing  of  their  object  of  capture 
or  destruction.  It  confidently  expects,  therefore,  that 
the  Imperial  German  Government  will  disavow  the  acts 
of  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  complains, 
that  they  will  make  reparation  so  far  as  reparation  is 
possible  for  injuries  which  are  without  measure,  and  that 
they  will  take  immediate  steps  to  prevent  the  recurrence 
of  anything  sp  obviously  subversive  of  the  principles  of 
warfare  for  which  the  Imperial  German  Government 
have  in  the  past  so  wisely  and  so  firmly  contended. 

The  Government  and  the  people  of  the  United  States 
look  to  the  Imperial  German  Government  for  just, 
prompt,  and  enlightened  action  in  this  vital  matter  with 
the  greater  confidence  because  the  United  States  and 
Germany  are  bound  together  not  only  by  special  ties  of 
friendship  but  also  by  the  explicit  stipulations  of  the 
treaty  of  1828  between  the  United  States  and  the  King- 
dom of  Prussia. 

Expressions  of  regret  and  offers  of  reparation  in  case 
of  the  destruction  of  neutral  ships  sunk  by  mistake, 
while  they  may  satisfy  international  obligations,  if  no 
loss  of  life  results,  can  not  justify  or  excuse  a  practice, 


240  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

the  natural  and  necessary  effect  of  which  is  to  subject 
neutral  nations  and  neutral  persons  to  new  and  immeas- 
urable risks. 

The  Imperial  German  Government  will  not  expect 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  omit  any  word 
or  any  act  necessary  to  the  performance  of  its  sacred 
duty  of  maintaining  the  rights  of  the  United  States  and 
its  citizens  and  of  safeguarding  their  free  exercise  and 
enjoyment. 

BRYAN. 


VERDICT  OF  CORONER'S  JURY  IN  THE 
LUSITANIA  CASE 

The  Cunard  line  steamship  Lusitania,  having  a  ton- 
nage of  32,500,  a  length  of  785  feet  and  a  speed  of  nearly 
twenty-five  knots  an  hour,  making  it  one  of  the  largest 
and  swiftest  passenger  vessels  ever  launched,  was  tor- 
pedoed and  sunk  by  a  German  submarine  off  the  south- 
eastern coast  of  Ireland  May  7, 1915,  with  a  loss  of  1,198 
lives.  Of  the  victims  102  were  Americans ;  the  remainder 
were  British  or  other  foreign  subjects. 

A  coroner's  inquest  was  held  at  Kinsale,  Ireland,  on 
May  10,  on  some  of  the  bodies  brought  ashore  in  small 
boats,  and  the  verdict  of  the  jury  was  as  follows: 

"We  find  that  the  deceased  met  death  from  prolonged 
immersion  and  exhaustion  in  the  sea  eight  miles  south- 
southwest  of  Old  Head  of  Kinsale  Friday,  May  7,  1915, 
owing  to  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania  by  torpedoes  fired 
by  a  German  submarine. 

"We  find  that  this  appalling  crime  was  committed 
contrary  to  international  law  and  the  conventions  of  all 
civilized  nations. 


HISTOEY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  241 

"We  also  charge  the  officers  of  said  submarine  and  the 
Emperor  and  Government  of  Germany,  under  whose 
orders  they  acted,  with  the  crime  of  wholesale  murder 
before  the  tribunal  of  the  civilized  world. 

"We  desire  to  express  sincere  condolences  and  sym- 
pathy with  the  relatives  of  the  deceased,  the  Cunard  Com- 
pany and  the  United  States,  many  of  whose  citizens  per- 
ished in  this  murderous  attack  on  an  unarmed  liner." 


GERMAN  STATEMENT  ON  THE  LUSI- 
TANIA  SINKING 

The  following  message  issued  by  the  German  Foreign 
Office  in  Berlin  May  10  was  delivered  by  the  German 
Ambassador,  Count  von  Bernstorff,  to  William  J.  Bryan, 
Secretary  of  State,  in  Washington,  May  11 : 

"Please  communicate  the  following  to  the  State  De- 
partment : 

"The  German  Government  desires  to  express  its  deep- 
est sympathy  at  the  loss  of  lives  on  board  the  Lusitania. 
The  responsibility  rests,  however,  with  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, which  through  its  plan  of  starving  the  civilian 
population  of  Germany  has  forced  Germany  to  resort  to 
retaliatory  measures. 

"In  spite  of  the  German  offer  to  stop  the  submarine 
war  in  case  the  starvation  plan  was  given  up,  British  mer- 
chant vessels  are  being  generally  armed  with  guns  and 
have  repeatedly  tried  to  ram  submarines,  so  that  a  pre- 
vious search  was  impossible. 

"They  cannot,  therefore,  be  treated  as  ordinary  mer- 
chant vessels.  A  recent  declaration  made  to  the  British 
Parliament  by  the  Parliamentary  Secretary  in  answer  to 
a  question  by  Lord  Charles  Beresford  said  that  at  the 


242  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

present  practically  all  British  merchant  vessels  were 
armed  and  provided  with  hand  grenades. 

"Besides,  it  has  been  openly  admitted  by  the  English 
press  that  the  Lusitania  on  previous  voyages  repeatedly 
carried  large  quantities  of  war  material.  On  the  present 
voyage  the  Lusitania  carried  5,400  cases  of  ammunition, 
while  the  rest  of  the  cargo  also  consisted  chiefly  of  con- 
traband. 

"If  England,  after  repeated  official  and  unofficial 
warnings,  considered  herself  able  to  declare  that  that 
boat  ran  no  risk  and  thus  lightheartedly  assumed  respon- 
sibility for  the  human  life  on  board  a  steamer  which, 
owing  to  its  armament  and  cargo,  was  liable  to  destruc- 
tion, the  German  Government,  in  spite  of  its  heartfelt 
sympathy  for  the  loss  of  American  lives,  cannot  but  regret 
that  Americans  felt  more  inclined  to  trust  to  English 
promises  rather  than  to  pay  attention  to  the  warnings 
from  the  German  side." 


BRITISH  REPLY  TO  THE  FOREGOING 

In  reply  to  the  above  German  defense  of  the  sinking 
of  the  Lusitania  the  following  official  statement  was  trans- 
mitted to  the  State  Department  May  11 : 

"The  German  Government  states  that  responsibility 
for  the  loss  of  the  Lusitania  rests  with  the  British  Govern- 
ment, which,  through  its  plan  of  starving  the  civil  popu- 
lation of  Germany,  has  forced  Germany  to  resort  to  retal- 
iatory measures.  The  reply  to  this  is  as  follows : 

"The  German  Government  on  February  4  declared 
their  intention  of  instituting  a  general  submarine  block- 
ade of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  with  the  avowed  pur- 


HISTOKY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  243 

pose  of  cutting  off  supplies  for  these  islands.  This  block- 
ade was  put  into  effect  February  18. 

"As  already  stated,  merchant  vessels  had,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  been  sunk  by  a  German  submarine  at  the  end  of 
January.  Before  February  4  no  vessel  carrying  food 
supplies  for  Germany  had  been  held  up  by  his  majesty's 
government,  except  on  the  ground  that  there  was  reason 
to  believe  the  foodstuffs  were  intended  for  use  of  the 
armed  forces  of  the  enemy  or  the  enemy  government. 

"The  decision  of  his  majesty's  government  to  carry 
out  the  measures  laid  down  by  the  order  in  council  was 
due  to  the  action  of  the  German  Government  in  insisting 
on  their  submarine  blockade. 

' '  This,  added  to  other  infractions  of  international  law 
by  Germany,  led  to  British  reprisals. 

"The  Germans  state  that,  in  spite  of  their  offer  to  stop 
their  submarine  war  in  case  the  starvation  plan  was 
given  up,  Great  Britain  has  taken  even  more  stringent 
blockade  measures.  The  answer  to  this  is  as  follows : 

' '  It  was  not  understood  from  the  reply  of  the  German 
Government  that  they  were  prepared  to  abandon  the  prin- 
ciple of  sinking  British  vessels  by  submarine.  They  have 
Refused  to  abandon  the  use  of  mines  for  offensive  pur- 
poses on  the  high  seas  on  any  condition.  They  have  com- 
mitted various  other  infractions  of  international  law,  such 
as  strewing  the  high  seas  and  trade  routes  with  mines, 
and  British  and  neutral  vessels  will  continue  to  run  dan- 
ger from  this  course  whether  Germany  abandons  her 
submarine  blockade  or  not. 

"The  Germans  represent  British  merchant  vessels  gen- 
erally as  armed  with  guns  and  say  that  they  repeatedly 
ram  submarines.  The  answer  to  this  is  as  follows : 

"It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  merchant  vessels, 
knowing  they  are  liable  to  be  sunk  without  warning  and 


244  H1STOBY-MAKTNG  DOCUMENTS 

without  any  chance  being  given  those  on  board  to  save 
their  lives,  should  take  measures  for  self-defense.  With 
regard  to  the  Lusitania,  the  vessel  was  not  armed  on  her 
last  voyage  and  had  not  been  armed  during  the  whole  war. 

"The  Germans  attempt  to  justify  the  sinking  of  the 
Lusitania  by  the  fact  that  she  had  arms  and  ammunition 
on  board.  The  presence  of  contraband  on  board  a  neutral 
vessel  does  render  her  liable  to  capture,  but  certainly  not 
to  destruction  with  the  loss  of  a  large  portion  of  her  crew 
and  passengers. 

' '  The  Germans  maintain  that  after  repeated  official  and 
unofficial  warnings  his  majesty's  government  were  re- 
sponsible for  the  loss  of  life,  as  they  considered  themselves 
able  to  declare  that  the  boat  ran  no  risk,  and  thus  'light- 
heartedly  assume  the  responsibility  for  the  human  lives  on 
board  a  steamer  which,  owing  to  its  armaments  and  cargo, 
is  liable  to  destruction. '  The  reply  thereto  is : 

"First.  His  majesty's  government  never  declared  the 
boat  ran  no  risk. 

"Second.  The  fact  that  the  Germans  issued  their 
warning  shows  that  the  crime  was  premeditated.  They 
had  no  more  right  to  murder  passengers  after  warning 
than  before. 

"  Third.  In  spite  of  their  attempts  to  put  the  blame 
on  Great  Britain,  it  will  tax  the  ingenuity  even  of  the 
Germans  to  explain  away  the  fact  that  it  was  a  German 
torpedo,  fired  by  a  German  seaman  from  a  German  sub- 
marine that  sank  the  vessel  and  caused  over  1,000 
deaths." 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  245 

SECOND  LUSITANIA  NOTE 

The  Secretary  of  State  ad  Interim  to  Ambassador 
Gerard  at  Berlin 

[This  was  the  Lusitania  note,  written  by  President  Wilson,  and 
dispatched  to  Berlin  June  9,  which  caused  the  resignation  of 
Mr.  Bryan  as  Secretary  of  State  on  the  previous  day.  He  dis- 
agreed with  the  President  as  to  the  tone  to  be  adopted  toward 
Germany.] 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  June  9, 1915. 

American  Ambassador,  Berlin :  You  are  instructed  to 
deliver  textually  the  following  note  to  the  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs : 

In  compliance  with  Your  Excellency's  request,  I  did 
not  fail  to  transmit  to  my  Government  immediately  upon 
their  receipt  your  note  of  May  28  in  reply  to  my  note  of 
May  15,  and  your  supplementary  note  of  June  1,  setting 
forth  the  conclusions  so  far  as  reached  by  the  Imperial 
German  Government  concerning  the  attacks  on  the  Amer- 
ican steamers  Gushing  and  Gulflight.  I  am  now  in- 
structed by  my  Government  to  communicate  the  following 
in  reply: 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  notes  with  grati- 
fication the  full  recognition  by  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment, in  discussing  the  cases  of  the  Gushing  and  Gulf- 
light,  of  the  principle  of  the  freedom  of  all  parts  of  the 
open  sea  to  neutral  ships  and  the  frank  willingness  of  the 
Imperial  German  Government  to  acknowledge  and  meet 
its  liability  where  the  fact  of  attack  upon  neutral  ships 
"which  have  not  been  guilty  of  any  hostile  act"  by  Ger- 
man aircraft  or  vessels  of  war  is  satisfactorily  established, 
and  the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  in  due 
course  lay  before  the  Imperial  German  Government,  as 


246  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

it  requests,  full  information  concerning  the  attack  on  the 
steamer  Gushing. 

"With  regard  to  the  sinking  of  the  steamer  Falaba,  by 
which  an  American  citizen  lost  his  life,  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  is  surprised  to  find  the  Imperial 
German  Government  contending  that  an  effort  on  the 
part  of  a  merchantman  to  escape  capture  and  secure 
assistance  alters  the  obligation  of  the  officer  seeking  to 
make  the  capture  in  respect  of  the  safety  of  the  lives  of 
those  on  board  the  merchantman,  although  the  vessel  had 
ceased  her  attempt  to  escape  when  torpedoed.  These  are 
not  new  circumstances.  They  have  been  in  the  minds  of 
statesmen  and  of  international  jurists  throughout  the 
development  of  naval  warfare,  and  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  does  not  understand  that  they  have 
ever  been  held  to  alter  the  principles  of  humanity  upon 
which  it  has  insisted.  Nothing  but  actual  forcible  resist- 
ance or  continued  efforts  to  escape  by  flight  when  ordered 
to  stop  for  the  purpose  of  visit  on  the  part  of  the  mer- 
chantman has  ever  been  held  to  forfeit  the  lives  of  her 
passengers  or  crew.  The  Government  of  the  United 
States,  however,  does  not  understand  that  the  Imperial 
German  Government  is  seeking  in  this  case  to  relieve  itself 
of  liability,  but  only  intends  to  set  forth  the  circumstances 
which  led  the  commander  of  the  submarine  to  allow  him- 
self to  be  hurried  into  the  course  which  he  took. 

Your  Excellency's  note,  in  discussing  the  loss  of  Ameri- 
can lives  resulting  from  the  sinking  of  the  steamship 
Lusitania,  adverts  at  some  length  to  certain  information 
which  the  Imperial  German  Government  has  received 
with  regard  to  the  character  and  outfit  of  that  vessel,  and 
Your  Excellency  expresses  the  fear  that  this  information 
may  not  have  been  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States.  It  is  stated  ir>  the  note 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  2i7 

that  the  Lusitania  was  undoubtedly  equipped  \vith 
masked  guns,  supplied  with  trained  gunners  and  special 
ammunition,  transporting  troops  from  Canada,  carry- 
ing a  cargo  not  permitted  under  the  laws  of  the  United 
States  to  a  vessel  also  carrying  passengers,  and  serving, 
in  virtual  effect,  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  naval  forces  of 
Great  Britain.  Fortunately  these  are  matters  concern- 
ing which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  in  a 
position  to  give  the  Imperial  German  Government  official 
information.  Of  the  facts  alleged  in  Your  Excellency's 
note,  if  true,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  would 
have  been  bound  to  take  official  cognizance  in  performing 
its  recognized  duty  as  a  neutral  power  and  in  enforcing 
its  national  laws.  It  was  its  duty  to  see  to  it  that  the 
Lusitania  was  not  armed  for  offensive  action,  that  she  was 
not  serving  as  a  transport,  that  she  did  not  carry  a  cargo 
prohibited  by  the  statutes  of  the  United  States,  and  that, 
if  in  fact  she  was  a  naval  vessel  of  Great  Britain,  she 
should  not  receive  clearance  as  a  merchantman,  and  it  per- 
formed that  duty  and  enforced  its  statutes  with  scrupu- 
lous vigilance  through  its  regularly  constituted  officials. 
It  is  able,  therefore,  to  assure  the  Imperial  German  Gov- 
ernment that  it  has  been  misinformed.  If  the  Imperial 
German  Government  should  deem  itself  to  be  in  posses- 
sion of  convincing  evidence  that  the  officials  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  did  not  perform  these  duties 
with  thoroughness  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
sincerely  hopes  that  it  will  submit  that  evidence  for  con- 
sideration. 

"Whatever  may  be  the  contentions  of  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  regarding  the  carriage  of  contraband 
of  war  on  board  the  Lusitania  or  regarding  the  explosion 
of  that  material  by  the  torpedo,  it  need  only  be  said  that 
in  the  view  of  this  Government  these  contentions  are 


248  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

irrelevant  to  the  question  of  the  legality  of  the  methods 
used  by  the  German  naval  authorities  in  sinking  the 
vessel. 

But  the  sinking  of  passenger  ships  involves  principles 
of  humanity  which  throw  into  the  background  any  special 
circumstances  of  detail  that  may  be  thought  to  affect  the. 
cases,  principles  which  lift  it,  as  the  Imperial  German 
Government-  will  no  doubt  be  quick  to  recognize  and 
acknowledge,  out  of  the  class  of  ordinary  subjects  of  dip- 
lomatic discussion  or  of  international  controversy.  What- 
ever be  the  other  facts  regarding  the  Lusitwnia,  the  prin- 
cipal fact  is  that  a  great  steamer,  primarily  and  chiefly 
a  conveyance  for  passengers,  and  carrying  more  than  a 
thousand  souls  who  had  no  part  or  lot  in  the  conduct  of 
the  war,  was  torpedoed  and  sunk  without  so  much  as  a 
challenge  or  a  warning,  and  that  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren were  sent  to  their  death  in  circumstances  unparal- 
leled in  modern  warfare.  The  fact  that  more  than  one 
hundred  American  citizens  were  among  those  who  per- 
ished made  it  the  duty  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  to  speak  of  these  things  and  once  more,  with  solemn 
emphasis,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Imperial  German 
Government  to  the  grave  responsibility  which  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  conceives  that  it  has  in- 
curred in  this  tragic  occurrence,  and  to  the  indisputable 
principle  upon  which  that  responsibility  rests.  The  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  is  contending  for  something 
much  greater  than  mere  rights  of  property  or  privileges 
of  commerce.  It  is  contending  for  nothing  less  high  and 
sacred  than  the  rights  of  humanity,  which  every  gov- 
ernment honors  itself  in  respecting  and  which  no  govern- 
ment is  justified  in  resigning  on  behalf  of  those  under  its 
care  and  authority.  Only  her  actual  resistance  to  cap- 
ture or  refusal  to  stop  when  ordered  to  do  so  for  the  pur- 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  249 

pose  of  visit  could  have  afforded  the  commander  of  the 
submarine  any  justification  for  so  much  as  putting  the 
lives  of  those  on  board  the  ship  in  jeopardy.  This  prin- 
ciple the  Government  of  the  United  States  understands 
the  explicit  instructions  issued  on  August  3,  1914,  by  the 
Imperial  German  Admiralty  to  its  commanders  at  sea  to 
have  recognized  and  embodied,  as  do  the  naval  codes  of  all 
other  nations,  and  upon  it  every  traveler  and  seaman  had 
a  right  to  depend.  It  is  upon  this  principle  of  humanity 
as  well  as  upon  the  law  founded  upon  this  principle  that 
the  United  States  must  stand. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  happy  to 
observe  that  Your  Excellency's  note  closes  with  the  inti- 
mation that  the  Imperial  German  Government  is  willing, 
now  as  before,  to  accept  the  good  offices  of  the  United 
States  in  an  attempt  to  come  to  an  understanding  with 
the  Government  of  Great  Britain  by  which  the  character 
and  conditions  of  the  war  upon  the  sea  may  be  changed. 
The  Government  of  the  United  States  would  consider  it  a 
privilege  thus  to  serve  its  friends  and  the  world.  It 
stands  ready  at  any  time  to  convey  to  either  government 
any  intimation  or  suggestion  the  other  may  be  willing  to 
have  it  convey,  and  cordially  invites  the  Imperial  German 
Government  to  make  use  of  its  services  in  this  way  at  its 
convenience.  The  whole  world  is  concerned  in  anything 
that  may  bring  about  even  a  partial  accommodation  of 
interests  or  in  any  way  mitigate  the  terrors  of  the  present 
distressing  conflict. 

In  the  meantime,  whatever  arrangement  may  happily 
be  made  between  the  parties  to  the  war,  and  whatever 
may  in  the  opinion  of  the  Imperial  German  Government 
have  been  the  provocation  or  the  circumstantial  justifica- 
tion for  the  past  acts  of  its  commanders  at  sea,  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  confidently  looks  to  see  the 


250  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

justice  and  humanity  of  the  Government  of  Germany  vin- 
dicated in  all  cases  where  Americans  have  been  wronged 
or  their  rights  as  neutrals  invaded. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  therefore  very 
earnestly  and  very  solemnly  renews  the  representations 
of  its  note  transmitted  to  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment on  the  15th  of  May,  and  relies  in  these  representa- 
tions upon  the  principles  of  humanity,  the  universally 
recognized  understandings  of  international  law  and  the 
ancient  friendship  of  the  German  nation. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  cannot  admit  that 
the  proclamation  of  a  war  zor\e  from  which  neutral  ships 
have  been  warned  to  keep  away  be  made  to  operate  as  in 
any  degree  an  abbreviation  of  the  rights  either  of  Ameri- 
can shipmasters  or  of  American  citizens  bound  on  lawful 
errands  as  passengers  on  merchant  ships  of  belligerent 
nationality.  It  does  not  understand  the  Imperial  Ger- 
man Government  to  question  those  rights.  It  understands 
it  also  to  accept  as  established  beyond  question  the  prin- 
ciple that  the  lives  of  noncombatants  cannot  lawfully  or 
rightfully  be  put  in  jeopardy  by  the  capture  or  destruc- 
tion of  an  unresisting  merchantman,  and  to  recognize  the 
obligation  to  take  sufficient  precaution  to  ascertain 
whether  a  suspected  merchantman  is  in  fact  of  belligerent 
nationality  or  is  in  fact  carrying  contraband  of  war  under 
a  neutral  flag.  The  Government  of  the  United  States 
therefore  deems  it  reasonable  to  expect  that  the  Imperial 
German  Government  w?ill  adopt  the  measures  necessary 
to  put  these  principles  into  practice  in  respect  of  the  safe- 
guarding of  American  lives  and  American  ships,  and  asks 
for  assurances  that  this  will  be  done. 

ROBERT  LANSING. 
Secretary  of  State  ad  Interim, 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  251 

GERMANY'S  REPLY  A  MONTH  LATER 

The  German  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs  to  the  Ameri- 
can Ambassador  at  Berlin 

Foreign  Office,  Berlin,  July  8,  1915. 

The  undersigned  has  the  honor  to  make  the  following 
reply  to  the  note  of  His  Excellency  Mr.  James  W. 
Gerard,  Ambassador  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
dated  the  10th  ultimo,  Foreign  Office  No.  3814,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  impairment  of  American  interests  by  the 
German  submarine  war: 

The  Imperial  Government  has  learned  with  satisfaction 
from  the  note  how  earnestly  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  is  concerned  in  seeing  the  principles  of 
humanity  realized  in  the  present  war.  Also,  this  appeal 
meets  with  full  sympathy  in  Germany,  and  the  Imperial 
Government  is  quite  willing  to  permit  its  statements  and 
decisions  in  the  case  under  consideration  to  be  governed 
by  the  principles  of  humanity  just  as  it  has  done  always. 

The  Imperial  Government  welcomed  it  with  gratitude 
when  the  American  Government  in  its  note  of  May  15, 
1915,  itself  recalled  that  Germany  had  always  permitted 
itself  to  be  governed  by  the  principles  of  progress  and 
humanity  in  dealing  with  the  law  of  maritime  war.  Since 
the  time  when  Frederick  the  Great  negotiated  with  John 
Adams,  Benjamin  Franklin  and  Thomas  Jefferson  the 
treaty  of  friendship  and  commerce  of  September  10, 1785, 
between  Prussia  and  the  republic  of  the  West,  German 
and  American  statesmen  have  in  fact  always  stood  to- 
gether in  the  struggle  for  the  freedom  of  the  seas  and  for 
the  protection  of  peaceable  trade.  In  the  international 
proceedings  which  have  since  been  conducted  for  the 
regulation  of  the  right  of  maritime  war  Germany  and 


252  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

America  have  jointly  advocated  progressive  principles, 
especially  the  abolishment  of  the  right  of  capture  at  sea 
and  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  neutrals.  Even 
at  the  beginning  of  the  present  war  the  German  Govern- 
ment immediately  declared  its  willingness,  in  response 
to  the  proposal  of  the  American  Government,  to  ratify 
the  Declaration  of  London  and  thereby  to  subject  itself, 
in  the  use  of  its  naval  forces,  to  all  the  restrictions  pro- 
vided therein  in  favor  of  neutrals.  Germany  has  like- 
wise been  always  tenacious  of  the  principle  that  war 
should  be  conducted  against  the  armed  and  organized 
forces  of  the  enemy  country,  but  that  the  civilian  pop- 
ulation of  the  enemy  must  be  spared  as  far  as  possible 
from  the  measures  of  war.  The  Imperial  Government 
cherishes  the  definite  hope  that  some  way  will  be  found 
when  peace  is  concluded,  or  perhaps  earlier,  to  regulate 
the  law  of  maritime  war  in  a  manner  guaranteeing  the 
freedom  of  the  seas,  and  will  welcome  it  with  gratitude 
and  satisfaction  if  it  can  work  hand  in  hand  with  the 
American  Government  on  that  occasion. 

If  in  the  present  war  the  principles  which  should  be 
the  ideal  of  the  future  have  been  traversed  more  and 
more  the  longer  its  duration,  the  German  Government 
has  no  guilt  therein. 

It  is  known  to  the  American  Government  how  Ger- 
many's adversaries,  by  completely  paralyzing  peaceable 
traffic  between  Germany  and  the  neutral  countries,  have 
aimed  from  the  very  beginning,  and  with  increasing  lack 
o£  consideration,  at  the  destruction  not  so  much  of  the 
armed  forces  as  the  life  of  the  German  nation,  repudiat- 
ing in  so  doing  all  the  rules  of  international  law  and  dis- 
regarding all  the  rights  of  neutrals.  On  November  3, 
1914,  England  declared  the  North  Sea  to  be  a  war  area, 
and  by  planting  poorly  anchored  mines  and  the  stoppage 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  253 

and  capture  of  vessels  made  passage  extremely  dangerous 
and  difficult  for  neutral  shipping,  so  that  it  is  actually 
blockading  neutral  coasts  and  ports,  contrary  to  all  inter- 
national law.  Long  before  the  beginning  of  the  sub- 
marine war  England  practically  completely  intercepted 
legitimate  neutral  navigation  to  Germany  also.  Thus 
Germany  was  driven  to  submarine  war  on  trade.  On 
November  16,  1914,  the  English  Prime  Minister  declared 
in  the  House  of  Commons  that  it  was  one  of  England's 
principal  tasks  to  prevent  food  for  the  German  popula- 
tion from  reaching  Germany  by  way  of  neutral  ports. 
Since  March  1  of  this  year  England  has  been  taking  from 
neutral  ships  without  further  formality  all  merchandise 
proceding  to  Germany,  as  well  as  all  merchandise 
coming  from  Germany,  even  when  neutral  property.  Just 
as  was  the  case  with  the  Boers,  the  German  people  is  now 
to  be  given  the  choice  of  perishing  from  starvation,  with 
its  women  and  children,  or  of  relinquishing  its  inde- 
pendence. 

"While  our  enemies  thus  loudly  and  openly  have  pro- 
claimed war  without  mercy  until  our  utter  destruction,  we 
are  conducting  war  in  self-defense  for  our  national  exist- 
ence and  for  the  sake  of  peace  of  assured  permanency. 
We  have  been  obliged  to  adopt  submarine  warfare  to  meet 
the  declared  intentions  of  our  enemies  and  the  method 
of  warfare  adopted  by  them  in  contravention  of  interna- 
tional law. 

With  all  its  efforts  in  principle  to  protect  neutral  life 
and  property  from  damage  as  much  as  possible,  the  Ger- 
man Government  recognized  unreservedly  in  its  memo- 
randum of  February  4  that  the  interests  of  neutrals  might 
suffer  from  submarine  warfare.  However,  the  American 
Government  will  also  understand  and  appreciate  that  in 
the  fight  for  existence  which  has  been  forced  upon  Ger- 


254  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

many  by  its  adversaries  and  announced  by  them,  it  is  the 
sacred  duty  of  the  Imperial  Government  to  do  all  within 
its  power  to  protect  and  to  save  the  lives  of  German  sub- 
jects. If  the  Imperial  Government  were  derelict  in  these, 
its  duties,  it  would  be  guilty  before  God  and  history  of  the 
violation  of  those  principles  of  the  highest  humanity 
which  are  the  foundation  of  every  national  existence. 

The  case  of  the  Lusitania  shows  with  horrible  clearness 
to  what  jeopardizing  of  human  lives  the  manner  of  con- 
ducting war  employed  by  our  adversaries  leads.  In  most 
direct  contradiction  of  international  law,  all  distinctions 
between  merchantmen  and  war  vessels  have  been  obliter- 
ated by  the  order  to  British  merchantmen  to  arm  them- 
selves and  to  ram  submarines  and  the  promise  of  rewards 
therefor,  and  neutrals  who  use  merchantmen  as  travelers 
have  thereby  been  exposed  in  an  increasing  degree  to  all 
the  dangers  of  war.  If  the  commander  of  the  German 
submarine  which  destroyed  the  Lusitania  had  caused  the 
crew  and  travelers  to  put  out  in  boats  before  firing  the 
torpedo  this  would  have  meant  the  sure  destruction  of  his 
own  vessel.  After  the  experiences  in  the  sinking  of  much 
smaller  and  less  seaworthy  vessels  it  was  to  be  expected 
that  a  mighty  ship  like  the  Lusitania  would  remain  above 
water  long  enough,  even  after  the  torpedoing,  to  permit 
the  passengers  to  enter  the  ship 's  boats.  Circumstances 
of  a  very  peculiar  kind,  especially  the  presence  on  board 
of  large  quantities  of  highly  explosive  materials,  defeated 
this  expectation.  In  addition,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that 
if  the  Lusitania  had  been  spared  thousands  of  cases  of 
ammunition  would  have  been  sent  to  Germany's  enemies 
and  thereby  thousands  of  German  mothers  and  children 
robbed  of  their  supporters. 

In  the  spirit  of  friendship  with  which  the  German 
nation  has  been  imbued  toward  the  union  and  its  inhab- 


HISTOKY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  255 

itants  since  the  earliest  days  of  its  existence,  the  Imperial 
Government  will  always  be  ready  to  do  all  it  can,  during 
the  present  war  also,  to  prevent  the  jeopardizing  of  the 
lives  of  American  citizens. 

The  Imperial  Government  therefore  repeats  the  assur- 
ances that  American  ships  will  not  be  hindered  in  the 
prosecution  of  legitimate  shipping,  and  the  lives  of  Ameri- 
can citizens  on  neutral  vessels  shall  not  be  placed  in 
jeopardy. 

In  order  to  exclude  any  unforeseen  dangers  to  Ameri- 
can passenger  steamers,  made  possible  in  view  of  the 
conduct  of  maritime  war  on  the  part  of  Germany 's  adver- 
saries, the  German  submarines  will  be  instructed  to  per- 
mit the  free  and  safe  passage  of  such  passenger  steamers 
when  made  recognizable  by  special  markings  and 
notified  a  reasonable  time  in  advance.  The  Imperial 
Government,  however,  confidently  hopes  that  the  Ameri- 
can Government  will  assume  the  guarantee  that  these  ves- 
sels have  no  contraband  on  board.  The  details  of  the 
arrangements  for  the  unhampered  passage  of  these  vessels 
would  have  to  be  agreed  upon  by  the  naval  authorities  of 
both  sides. 

In  order  to  furnish  adequate  facilities  for  travel  across 
the  Atlantic  ocean  for  American  citizens,  the  German 
Government  submits  for  consideration  a  proposal  to 
increase  the  number  of  available  steamers  by  installing 
in  the  passenger  service  a  reasonable  number  of  neutral 
steamers,  the  exact  number  to  be  agreed  upon,  under  the 
American  flag  under  the  same  conditions  as  the  Ameri- 
can steamers  above  mentioned. 

The  Imperial  Government  believes  that  it  can  assume 
that  in  this  manner  adequate  facilities  for  travel  across 
the  Atlantic  Ocean  can  be  afforded  American  citizens. 
There  would  therefore  appear  to  be  no  compelling  neces- 


256  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

sity  for  American  citizens  to  travel  to  Europe  in  time  of 
war  on  ships  carrying  an  enemy  flag.  In  particular  the 
Imperial  Government  is  unable  to  admit  that  American 
citizens  can  protect  an  enemy  ship  through  the  mere  fact 
of  their  presence  on  board.  Germany  merely  followed 
England's  example  when  it  declared  part  of  the  high 
seas  an  area  of  war.  Consequently  accidents  suffered  by 
neutrals  on  enemy  ships  in  this  area  of  war  cannot  well 
be  judged  differently  from  accidents  to  which  neutrals 
are  at  all  times  exposed  at  the  seat  of  war  on  land  when 
they  betake  themselves  into  dangerous  localities  in  spite 
of  previous  warning. 

If,  however,  it  should  not  be  possible  for  the  American 
Government  to  acquire  an  adequate  number  of  neutral 
passenger  steamers,  the  Imperial  Government  is  prepared 
to  interpose  no  objections  to  the  placing  under  the  Ameri- 
can flag  by  the  American  Government  of  four  enemy  pas- 
senger steamers  for  the  passenger  traffic  between  America 
and  England.  The  assurances  of  "free  and  safe"  pas- 
sage for  American  passenger  steamers  would  then  be 
extended  to  apply  under  the  identical  preconditions  to 
these  formerly  hostile  passenger  ships. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  has  declared  his 
readiness,  in  a  way  deserving  of  thanks,  to  communicate 
and  suggest  proposals  to  the  Government  of  Great  Britain 
irith  particular  reference  to  the  alteration  of  maritime 
war.  The  Imperial  Government  will  always  be  glad  to 
make  use  of  the  good  offices  of  the  President  and  hopes 
that  his  efforts  in  the  present  case,  as  well  as  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  lofty  ideal  of  the  freedom  of  the  seas,  will 
lead  to  an  understanding. 

The  undersigned  requests  the  Ambassador  to  bring 
the  above  to  the  knowledge  of  the  American  Government 
and  avails  himself  of  the  opportunity  to  renew  to  His 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  257 

Excellency  the  assurance  of  his  most  distinguished  con- 
sideration. 

VON  JAGOW. 


Secretary  of  State  Lansing  to  Ambassador  Gerard 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  July  21, 1915. 

You  are  instructed  to  deliver  textually  the  following 
note  to  the  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs : 

The  note  of  the  Imperial  German  Government  dated 
the  8th  of  July,  1915,  has  received  the  careful  considera- 
tion of  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and  it 
regrets  to  be  obliged  to  say  that  it  has  found  it  very  unsat- 
isfactory, because  it  fails  to  meet  the  real  difference  be- 
tween the  two  governments  and  indicates  no  way  in  which 
the  accepted  principles  of  law  and  humanity  may  be 
applied  in  the  grave  matter  in  controversy,  but  proposes, 
on  the  contrary,  arrangements  for  a  partial  suspension  of 
those  principles  which  virtually  set  them  aside. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  notes  with  satis- 
faction that  the  Imperial  German  Government  recognizes 
without  reservation  the  validity  of  the  principles  insisted 
on  in  the  several  communications  which  this  Govern- 
ment has  addressed  to  the  Imperial  German  Government 
with  regard  to  its  announcement  of  a  war  zone  and  the 
use  of  submarines  against  merchantmen  on  the  high  seas 
— the  principle  that  the  high  seas  are  free,  that  the  char- 
acter and  cargo  of  a  merchantman  must  first  be  ascer- 
tained before  she  can  lawfully  be  seized  or  destroyed  and 
that  the  lives  of  noncombatants  may  in  no  case  be  put  in 
jeopardy  unless  the  vessel  resists  or  seeks  to  escape  after 


258  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

being  summoned  to  submit  to  examination ;  for  a  belliger- 
ent act  of  retaliation  is  per  se  an  act  beyond  the  law,  and 
the  defense  of  an  act  as  retaliatory  is  an  admission  that  it 
is  illegal. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  is,  however, 
keenly  disappointed  to  find  that  the  Imperial  German 
Government  regards  itself  as  in  large  degree  exempt  from 
the  obligation  to  observe  these  principles,  even  where  neu- 
tral vessels  are  concerned,  by  what  it  believes  the  policy 
and  practice  of  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  to  be  in 
the  present  war  with  regard  to  neutral  commerce.  The 
Imperial  German  Government  will  readily  understand 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  cannot  discuss 
the  policy  of  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  with  re- 
gard to  neutral  trade  except  with  that  Government  itself, 
and  that  it  must  regard  the  conduct  of  other  belligerent 
governments  as  irrelevant  to  any  discussion  with  the 
Imperial  German  Government  of  what  this  Government 
regards  as  grave  and  unjustifiable  violations  of  the  rights 
of  American  citizens  by  German  naval  commanders.  Il- 
legal and  inhuman  acts,  however  justifiable  they  may  be 
thought  to  be  against  an  enemy  who  is  believed  to  have 
acted  in  contravention  of  law  and  humanity,  are  mani- 
festly indefensible  when  they  deprive  neutrals  of  their 
acknowledged  rights,  particularly  when  they  violate  the 
right  to  life  itself.  If  a  belligerent  cannot  retaliate 
against  an  enemy  without  injuring  the  lives  of  neutrals  as 
well  as  their  property,  humanity,  as  well  as  justice  and  a 
due  regard  for  the  dignity  of  neutral  powers,  should  dic- 
tate that  the  practice  be  discontinued.  If  persisted  in  it 
would  in  such  circumstances  constitute  an  unpardonable 
offense  against  the  sovereignty  of  the  neutral  nation 
affected.  The  Government  of  the  United  States  is  not 
unmindful  of  the  extraordinary  conditions  created  by  this 


HISTOKY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  259 

war  or  of  the  radical  alterations  of  circumstance  and 
method  of  attack  produced  by  the  use  of  instrumentalities 
of  naval  warfare  which  the  nations  of  the  world  cannot 
have  had  in  view  when  the  existing  rules  of  international 
law  were  formulated,  and  it  is  ready  to  make  every  rea- 
sonable allowance  for  these  novel  and  unexpected  aspects 
of  war  at  sea,  but  it  cannot  consent  to  abate  any  essential 
or  fundamental  right  of  its  people  because  of  a  mere  alter- 
ation of  circumstance.  The  rights  of  neutrals  in  time  of 
war  are  based  upon  principle,  not  upon  expediency,  and 
the  principles  are  immutable.  It  is  the  duty  and  obliga- 
tion of  belligerents  to  find  a  way  to  adapt  the  new  cir- 
cumstances to  them. 

The  events  of  the  past  two  months  have  clearly  indi- 
cated that  it  is  possible  and  practicable  to  conduct  such 
submarine  operations  as  have  characterized  the  activity 
of  the  Imperial  German  Navy  within  the  so-called  war 
zone  in  substantial  accord  with  the  accepted  practices  of 
regulated  warfare.  The  whole  world  has  looked  with 
interest  and  increasing  satisfaction  at  the  demonstration 
of  that  possibility  by  German  naval  commanders.  It  is 
manifestly  possible,  therefore,  to  lift  the  whole  practice 
of  submarine  attack  above  the  criticism  which  it  has 
aroused  and  remove  the  chief  causes  of  offense. 

In  view  of  the  admission  of  illegality  made  by  the  Im- 
perial Government  when  it  pleaded  the  right  of  retalia- 
tion in  defense  of  its  acts,  and  in  view  of  the  manifest 
possibility  of  conforming  to  the  established  rules  of  naval 
warfare,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  cannot 
believe  that  the  Imperial  Government  will  longer  refrain 
from  disavowing  the  wanton  act  of  its  naval  commander 
in  sinking  the  Liisitania  or  from  offering  reparation  for 
the  American  lives  lost,  so  far  as  reparation  can  be  made 
for  a  needless  destruction  of  human  life  by  an  illegal  act. 


260  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  while  not  indif- 
ferent to  the  friendly  spirit  in  which  it  is  made,  cannot 
accept  the  suggestion  of  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment that  certain  vessels  be  designated  and  agreed  upon 
which  shall  be  free  on  the  seas  now  illegally  proscribed. 
The  very  agreement  would,  by  implication,  subject  other 
vessels  to  illegal  attack  and  would  be  a  curtailment  and 
therefore  an  abandonment  of  the  principles  for  which  this 
Government  contends  and  which  in  time  of  calmer  coun- 
sels every  nation  would  concede  as  of  course. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  Imperial 
German  Government  are  contending  for  the  same  great 
object,  have  long  stood  together  in  urging  the  very  prin- 
ciples upon  which  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
now  so  solemnly  insists.  They  are  both  contending  for 
the  freedom  of  the  seas.  The  Government  of  the  United 
States  will  continue  to  contend  for  that  freedom,  from 
whatever  quarter  violated,  without  compromise  and  at 
any  cost.  It  invites  the  practical  cooperation  of  the  Im- 
perial German  Government  at  this  time  when  cooperation 
may  accomplish  most  and  this  great  common  object  be 
most  strikingly  and  effectively  achieved. 

The  Imperial  German  Government  expresses  the  hope 
that  this  object  may  be  in  some  measure  accomplished 
even  before  the  present  war  ends.  It  can  be.  The  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  not  only  feels  obliged  to 
insist  upon  it,  by  whomsoever  violated  or  ignored,  in  the 
protection  of  its  own  citizens,  but  is  also  deeply  inter- 
ested in  seeing  it  made  practicable  be-tween  the  belliger- 
ents themselves,  and  holds  itself  ready  at  any  time  to  act 
as  the  common  friend  who  may  be  privileged  to  suggest 
away. 

In  the  meantime  the  very  value  which  this  Government 
sets  upon  the  long  and  unbroken  friendship  between  the 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  261 

people  and  Government  of  the  United  States  and  the  peo- 
ple and  Government  of  the  German  nation  impels  it  to 
press  very  solemnly  upon  the  Imperial  German  Govern- 
ment the  necessity  for  a  scrupulous  observance  of  neutral 
rights  in  this  critical  matter.  Friendship  itself  prompts 
it  to  say  to  the  Imperial  Government  that  repetition  by 
the  commanders  of  German  naval  vessels  of  acts  in  con- 
travention of  those  rights  must  be  regarded  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  when  they  affect  American 
citizens,  as  deliberately  unfriendly. 

LANSING. 


262  HISTOKY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

GERMANY'S  BROKEN  AGREEMENT 

Ambassador  von  Bernstorff  to  Secretary  Lansing 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Sept.  1,  1915. 
MY  DEAR  ME.  SECRETARY  : 

"With  reference  to  our  conversation  of  this  morning,  I 
beg  to  inform  you  that  my  instructions  concerning  our 
answer  to  your  last  Lusitania  note*  contain  the  following 
passage : 

"Liners  will  not  be  sunk  by  our  submarines  without 
warning  and  without  safety  to  the  lives  of  noncombatants, 
provided  that  the  liners  do  not  try  to  escape  or  offer 
resistance." 

Although  I  know  that  you  do  not  wish  to  discuss  the 
Lusitania  question  till  the  Arabic  incident  has  been  defi- 
nitely and  satisfactorily  settled,  I  desire  to  inform  you 
of  the  above  because  this  policy  of  my  Government  was 
decided  on  before  the  Arabic  incident  occurred. 

I  have  no  objection  to  your  making  any  use  you  may 
please  of  the  above  information. 

I  remain,  my  dear  Mr.  Lansing,  very  sincerely  yours, 

'J.  VON  BERNSTORFF. 


RECALL  OF  AUSTRIAN  AMBASSADOR 

The  Secretary  of  State  to  Ambassador  Penfield  at 
Vienna 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  September  8,  1915. 

You  are  instructed  to  present  immediately  the  fol- 
lowing in  a  note  to  the  Foreign  Office : 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  263 

"Mr.  Constantin  Dumba,  the  Austro-Hungarian  Am- 
bassador at  Washington,  has  admitted  that  he  proposed 
to  his  Government  plans  to  instigate  strikes  in  Ameri- 
can manufacturing  plants  engaged  in  the  production  of 
munitions  of  war.  The  information  reached  this  Gov- 
ernment through  a  copy  of  a  letter  of  the  Ambassador  to 
his  Government.  The  bearer  was  an  American  citizen 
named  Archibald,  who  was  traveling  under  an  American 
passport.  The  Ambassador  has  admitted  that  he  em- 
ployed Archibald  to  bear  official  despatches  from  him  to 
his  Government. 

"By  reason  of  the  admitted  purpose  and  intent  of  Mr. 
Dumba  to  conspire  to  cripple  legitimate  industries  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  and  to  interrupt  their  legiti- 
mate trade,  and  by  reason  of  the  flagrant  violation  of 
diplomatic  propriety  in  employing  an  American  citizen 
protected  by  an  American  passport  as  a  secret  bearer  of 
official  despatches  through  the  lines  of  the  enemy  of  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, the  President  directs  me  to  inform  your 
Excellency  that  Mr.  Dumba  is  no  longer  acceptable  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  as  the  Ambassador 
of  His  Imperial  Majesty  at  "Washington. 

"Believing  that  the  Imperial  and  Koyal  Government 
will  realize  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
has  no  alternative  but  to  request  the  recall  of  Mr.  JJumba 
on  account  of  his  improper  conduct,  the  Government  of 
the  United  States  expresses  its  deep  regret  that  this 
course  has  become  necessary  and  assures  the  Imperial  and 
Royal  Government  that  it  sincerely  desires  to  continue 
the  cordial  and  friendly  relations  which  exist  between 
the  United  States  and  Austria-Hungary. ' ' 

LANSING. 


264  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

RECALL  OF  GERMAN  ATTACHES 

The  Secretary  of  State  to  the  German  Ambassador 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  December  4,  1915. 
EXCELLENCY  : 

Confirming  my  conversation  with  you  on  Decem- 
ber first,  I  have  the  honor  to  state  that  various 
facts  and  circumstances  having  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  as  to  the  con- 
nection of  Captain  Boy-Ed,  Naval  Attache,  and  Captain 
von  Papen,  Military  Attache,  of  the  Imperial  German 
Embassy,  with  the  illegal  and  questionable  acts  of  certain 
persons  within  the  United  States,  the  President  reached 
the  conviction  that  the  continued  presence  of  these  gen- 
tlemen as  Attaches  of  the  Embassy  would  no  longer 
serve  the  purpose  of  their  mission,  and  would  be  unac- 
ceptable to  his  Government. 

The  President,  therefore,  directed  me  to  notify  Your 
Excellency,  as  I  did  orally,  that  Captain  Boy-Ed  and 
Captain  von  Papen  are  no  longer  acceptable  to  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  as  Attaches  of  His  Im- 
perial Majesty 's  Embassy  at  Washington,  and  to  request 
that  your  Excellency's  Government  withdraw  them  im- 
mediately from  their  official  connection  with  the  Imperial 
German  Embassy. 

As  I  informed  you  at  the  time  of  our  interview,  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  deeply  regrets  that  this 
action  has  become  necessary  and  believes  that  the  Im- 
perial Government  will  realize  that  this  Government  has, 
in  view  of  all  the  circumstances,  no  alternative  course 
consistent  with  the  interests  of  the  two  Governments  in 
their  relations  with  each  other. 

Accept,  etc.,  ROBERT  LANSING. 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  265 

The  Secretary  of  State  to  the  German  Ambassador 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  December  10,  1915. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  AMBASSADOR  : 

On  December  1st  I  informed  Your  Excellency  that 
Captain  Boy-Ed,  the  Naval  Attache  of  your  Embassy, 
and  Captain  von  Papen,  the  Military  Attache,  were  no 
longer  persons  grata  to  my  Government  and  requested 
that  the  Imperial  Government  immediately  recall  the 
two  attaches. 

As  ten  days  have  passed  without  the  request  of  this 
Government  being  complied  with  and  without  commu- 
nication from  you  on  the  subject  other  than  your  per- 
sonal letter  of  the  5th  instant,  which  in  no  way  affected 
the  fact  that  the  two  attaches  were  unacceptable  or  pre- 
sented a  ground  for  delay,  I  feel  compelled  to  direct 
your  attention  to  the  expectation  of  this  Government 
that  its  request  would  be  immediately  granted. 

I  trust,  my  dear  Mr.  Ambassador,  that  you  appreciate 
the  situation  and  will  urge  upon  your  Government  a 
prompt  compliance  with  the  request  in  order  that  this 
Government  may  not  be  compelled  to  take  action  with- 
out awaiting  the  recall  of  the  attaches,  an  action  which 
this  Government  does  not  desire  to  take  but  will  be  forced 
to  take  unless  the  Imperial  Government  meets  the  ex- 
press wish  of  this  Government  without  further  delay. 
I  need  not  impress  upon  Your  Excellency  the  desirability 
of  avoiding  a  circumstance  which  would  increase  the 
embarrassment  of  the  present  situation. 
I  am,  etc., 

ROBERT  LANSING. 


266  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

The  German  Ambassador  to  the  Secretary  of  State 

German  Embassy, 
Washington,  December  10,  1915. 

MR.  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  : 

In  reply  to  your  note  of  the  4th  of  this  month,  I  have 
the  honor  to  inform  Your  Excellency  that  his  Majesty  the 
Emperor  and  King  has  been  most  graciously  pleased  to 
recall  the  Naval  Attache  of  the  Imperial  Embassy,  Cap- 
tain Boy-Ed,  and  the  Military  Attache,  Captain  von 
Papen. 

I  am  instructed  to  beg  Your  Excellency  to  obtain  for 
the  above-named  gentlemen  a  safe  conduct  for  the  return 
trip  to  Germany  from  the  powers  at  war  with  the  Gen- 
man  Empire,  and  also  to  insure  the  trip  of  the  successors 
of  those  gentlemen  to  the  United  States  in  the  event  of 
their  being  appointed  by  His  Majesty. 

Accept,  etc.,  J.  BERNSTORFF. 


The  Secretary  of  State  to  the  German  Ambassador 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  December  15,  1915. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  AMBASSADOR  : 

I  am  advised  by  the  British  and  French  Ambassadors 
that  safe  conducts  will  be  furnished  to  Captains  Boy-Ed 
and  von  Papen  for  their  return  to  Germany,  it  being 
understood  that  they  will  take  the  southern  route  to 
Holland.  The  Ambassadors  request  information  as  to 
the  vessel  and  date  of  sailing  of  the  two  gentlemen,  which 
I  hope  you  will  furnish  at  your  earliest  convenience.  It 
is  also  understood  that  they  will,  of  course,  perform  no 
unneutral  act,  such  as  carrying  dispatches  to  the  German 
Government.  I  am,  etc.,  ROBERT  LANSING. 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  267 

SUBMARINES  AND  ARMED  MER- 
CHANTMEN 

Informal  and  Confidential  Letter  from  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  the  British  Ambassador* 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  January  18,  1916. 

MY  DEAR  MB.  AMBASSADOR  : 

It  is  a  matter  of  the  deepest  interest  to  my  Government 
to  bring  to  an  end,  if  possible,  the  dangers  to  life  which 
attend  the  use  of  submarines  as  at  present  employed  in 
destroying  enemy  commerce  on  the  high  seas,  since  on 
any  merchant  vessel  of  belligerent  nationality  there  may 
be  citizens  of  the  United  States  who  have  taken  passage 
or  are  members  of  the  crew,  in  the  exercise  of  their  rec- 
ognized rights  as  neutrals.  I  assume  that  Your  Excel- 
lency's Government  are  equally  solicitous  to  protect  their 
nations  from  the  exceptional  hazards  which  are  pre- 
sented by  their  passage  on  a  merchant  vessel  through 
those  portions  of  the  high  seas  in  which  undersea  craft 
of  their  enemy  are  operating. 

While  I  am  fully  alive  to  the  appalling  loss  of  life 
among  noncombatants,  regardless  of  age  or  sex,  which 
has  resulted  from  the  present  method  of  destroying  mer- 
chant vessels  without  removing  the  persons  on  board  to 
places  of  safety,  and  while  I  view  that  practice  as  con- 
trary to  those  humane  principles  which  should  control 
belligerents  in  the  conduct  of  their  naval  operations,  I 

*  Same  to  the  Ambassador  of  France,  the  Russian  Ambassador, 
the  Ambassador  of  Italy,  the  Belgian  Minister,  and,  on  January 
24,  1916,  to  the  Japanese  Ambassador. 


268  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

do  not  feel  that  a  belligerent  should  be  deprived  of  the 
proper  use  of  submarines  in  the  interruption  of  enemy 
commerce  since  those  instruments  of  war  have  proven 
their  effectiveness  in  this  particular  branch  of  warfare  on 
the  high  seas. 

In  order  to  bring  submarine  warfare  within  the  gen- 
eral rules  of  international  law  and  the  principles  of 
humanity  without  destroying  its  efficiency  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  commerce,  I  believe  that  a  formula  may  be  found 
which,  though  it  may  require  slight  modifications  of  the 
practice  generally  followed  by  nations  prior  to  the  em- 
ployment of  submarines,  will  appeal  to  the  sense  of  justice 
and  fairness  of  all  the  belligerents  in  the  present  war. 

Your  Excellency  will  understand  that  in  seeking  a 
formula  or  rule  of  this  nature  I  approach  it  of  necessity 
from  the  point  of  view  of  a  neutral,  but  I  believe  that  it 
will  be  equally  efficacious  in  preserving  the  lives  of 
all  noncombatants  on  merchant  vessels  of  belligerent 
nationality. 

My  comments  on  this  subject  are  predicated  on  the  fol- 
lowing propositions: 

1.  A  noncombatant  has  a  right  to  traverse  the  high 
seas  in  a  merchant  vessel  entitled  to  fly  a  belligerent  flag 
and  to  rely  upon  the  observance  of  the  rules  of  interna- 
tional law  and  principles  of  humanity  if  the  vessel  is 
approached  by  a  naval  vessel  of  another  belligerent. 

2.  A  merchant  vessel  of  enemy  nationality  should  not 
be  attacked  without  being  ordered  to  stop. 

*  3.  An  enemy  merchant  vessel,  when  ordered  to  do  so 
by  a  belligerent  submarine,  should  immediately  stop. 

4.  Such  vessel  should  not  be  attacked  after  being  or- 
dered to  stop  unless  it  attempts  to  flee  or  to  resist,  and 
in  case  it  ceases  to  flee  or  resist,  the  attack  should  dis- 
continue. 


HISTOBY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  269 

5.  In  the  event  that  it  is  impossible  to  place  a  prize  crew 
on  board  of  an  enemy  merchant  vessel  or  convoy  it  into 
port,  the  vessel  may  be  sunk,  provided  the  crew  and  pas- 
sengers have  been  removed  to  a  place  of  safety. 

In  complying  with  the  foregoing  propositions  which,  in 
my  opinion,  embody  the  principal  rules,  the  strict  observ- 
ance of  which  will  insure  the  life  of  a  noncombatant  on 
a  merchant  vessel  which  is  intercepted  by  a  submarine, 
I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  obstacles  which  would  be  met 
by  undersea  craft  as  commerce  destroyers. 

Prior  to  the  year  1915  belligerent  operations  against 
enemy  commerce  on  the  high  seas  had  been  conducted 
with  cruisers  carrying  heavy  armaments.  Under  these 
conditions  international  law  appeared  to  permit  a  mer- 
chant vessel  to  carry  an  armament  for  defensive  purposes 
without  losing  its  character  as  a  private  commercial  ves- 
sel. This  right  seems  to  have  been  predicated  on  the 
superior  defensive  strength  of  ships  of  war,  and  the  lim- 
itation of  armament  to  have  been  dependent  on  the  fact 
that  it  could  not  be  used  effectively  in  offense  against 
enemy  naval  vessels,  while  it  could  defend  the  merchant- 
men against  the  generally  inferior  armament  of  piratical 
ships  and  privateers. 

The  use  of  the  submarine,  however,  has  changed  these 
relations.  Comparison  of  the  defensive  strength  of  a 
cruiser  and  a  submarine  shows  that  the  latter,  relying 
for  protection  on  its  power  to  submerge,  is  almost  defense- 
less in  point  of  construction.  Even  a  merchant  ship 
carrying  a  small  caliber  gun  would  be  able  to  use  it 
effectively  for  offense  against  a  submarine.  Moreover, 
pirates  and  sea  rovers  have  been  swept  from  the  main 
trade  channels  of  the  seas,  and  privateering  has  been 
abolished.  Consequently,  the  placing  of  guns  on  mer- 
chantmen at  the  present  day  of  submarine  warfare  can 


270  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

be  explained  only  on  the  ground  of  a  purpose  to  render 
merchantmen  superior  in  force  to  submarines  and  to  pre- 
vent warning  and  visit  and  search  by  them.  Any  arma- 
ment, therefore,  on  a  merchant  vessel  would  seem  to  have 
the  character  of  an  offensive  armament. 

If  a  submarine  is  required  to  stop  and  search  a  mer- 
chant vessel  on  the  high  seas  and,  in  case  it  is  found  that 
she  is  of  enemy  character  and  that  conditions  necessitate 
her  destruction,  to  remove  to  a  place  of  safety  all  persons 
on  board,  it  would  not  seem  just  or  reasonable  that  the 
submarine  should  be  compelled,  while  complying  with 
these  requirements,  to  expose  itself  to  almost  certain 
destruction  by  the  guns  on  board  the  merchant  vessel. 

It  would,  therefore,  appear  to  be  a  reasonable  and  re- 
ciprocally just  arrangement  if  it  could  be  agreed  by  the 
opposing  belligerents  that  submarines  should  be  caused 
to  adhere  strictly  to  the  rules  of  international  law  in  the 
matter  of  stopping  and  searching  merchant  vessels, 
determining  their  belligerent  nationality,  and  removing 
the  crews  and  passengers  to  places  of  safety  before  sinking 
the  vessels  as  prizes  of  war,  and  that  merchant  vessels  of 
belligerent  nationality  should  be  prohibited  and  pre- 
vented from  carrying  any  armament  whatsoever. 

In  presenting  this  formula  as  a  basis  for  conditional 
declarations  by  the  belligerent  Governments,  I  do  so  in 
the  full  conviction  that  your  Government  will  consider 
primarily  the  humane  purpose  of  saving  the  lives  of 
innocent  people  rather  than  the  insistence  upon  a  doubt- 
ful legal  right  which  may  be  denied  on  account  of  new 
conditions. 

I  would  be  pleased  if  you  would  be  good  enough  to 
bring  this  suggestion  to  the  attention  of  your  Govern- 
ment and  inform  me  of  their  views  upon  the  subject,  and 
•whether  they  would  be  willing  to  make  such  a  declara- 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  271 

tion  conditioned  upon  their  enemies  making  a  similar 
declaration. 

A  communication  similar  to  this  one  has  been  addressed 
to  the  Ambassadors  of  France,  Russia,  and  Italy,  and  the 
Minister  of  Belgium  at  this  capital. 

I  should  add  that  my  Government  is  impressed  with 
the  reasonableness  of  the  argument  that  a  merchant  vessel 
carrying  an  armament  of  any  sort,  in  view  of  the  char- 
acter of  submarine  warfare  and  the  defensive  weakness 
of  undersea  craft,  should  be  held  to  be  an  auxiliary 
cruiser  and  so  treated  by  a  neutral  as  well  as  by  a  bel- 
ligerent Government,  and  is  seriously  considering  in- 
structing its  officials  accordingly. 
I  am,  etc., 

ROBERT  LANSING. 


272  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

SINKING  OF  THE  "SUSSEX" 

First  Threat  to  Sever  Diplomatic  Relations  with 
Germany 

The  Secretary  of  State  to  Ambassador  Gerard  at  Berlin 

[Telegram.] 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  March  27,  1916. 

Mr.  Gerard  is  informed  that  considerable  evidence  has 
been  received  by  the  Department  to  the  effect  that  the 
steamship  "Sussex"  with  several  American  citizens 
among  the  passengers  was  sunk  by  a  submarine  torpedo 
on  the  24th  instant,  and  he  is  directed  to  inquire  imme- 
diately of  the  German  Foreign  Office  whether  a  sub- 
marine belonging  to  Germany  or  her  allies  sunk  tha 
''Sussex."  The  Department  expects  a  prompt  reply. 


The  Secretary  of  State  to  Ambassador  Gerard 

[Telegram.] 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  April  18,  1916. 

You  are  instructed  to  deliver  to  the  Secretaiy  of 
Foreign  Affairs  a  communication  reading  as  follows : 

I  did  not  fail  to  transmit  immediately,  by  telegraph, 
to  my  Government  Your  Excellency's  note  of  the  10th 
instant  in  regard  to  certain  attacks  by  German  sub- 
marines, and  particularly  in  regard  to  the  disastrous 
explosion  which  on  March  24,  last,  wrecked  the  French 
steamship  "Sussex"  in  the  English  Channel.  I  have 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  273 

now  the  honor  to  deliver,  under  instructions  from  my 
Government,  the  following  reply  to  Your  Excellency : 

Information  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  fully  establishes  the  facts  in  the  case 
of  the  "Sussex,"  and  the  inferences  which  my  Govern- 
ment has  drawn  from  that  information  it  regards  as  con- 
firmed by  the  circumstances  set  forth  in  Your  Excel- 
lency 's  note  of  the  10th  instant.  On  the  24th  of  March, 
1916,  at  about  2 :50  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  the  unarmed 
steamer ' '  Sussex, ' '  with  325  or  more  passengers  on  board, 
among  whom  were  a  number  of  American  citizens,  was 
torpedoed  while  crossing  from  Folkestone  to  Dieppe.  The 
"Sussex"  had  never  been  armed;  was  a  vessel  known  to 
be  habitually  used  only  for  the  conveyance  of  passengers 
across  the  English  Channel;  and  was  not  following  the 
route  taken  by  troop  ships  or  supply  ships.  About  80  of 
her  passengers,  noncombatants  of  all  ages  and  sexes,  in- 
cluding citizens  of  the  United  States,  were  killed  or 
injured. 

A  careful,  detailed,  and  scrupulously  impartial  in- 
vestigation by  naval  and  military  officers  of  the  United 
States  has  conclusively  established  the  fact  that  the 
' '  Sussex ' '  was  torpedoed  without  warning  or  summons  to 
surrender  and  that  the  torpedo  by  which  she  was  struck 
was  of  German  manufacture.  In  the  view  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  these  facts  from  the  first 
made  the  conclusion  that  the  torpedo  was  fired  by  a  Ger- 
man submarine  unavoidable.  It  now  considers  that  con- 
clusion substantiated  by  the  statements  of  Your  Excel- 
lency's note.  A  full  statement  of  the  facts  upon  which 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  based  its  con- 
clusion is  inclosed. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States,  after  having 
given  careful  consideration  to  the  note  of  the  Imperial 


274  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

Government  of  the  10th  of  April,  regrets  to  state  that 
the  impression  made  upon  it  by  the  statements  and  pro- 
posals contained  in  that  note  is  that  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment has  failed  to  appreciate  the  gravity  of  the  situa- 
tion which  has  resulted,  not  alone  from  the  attack  on  the 
"Sussex"  but  from  the  whole  method  and  character  of 
submarine  warfare  as  disclosed  by  the  unrestrained  prac- 
tice of  the  commanders  of  German  undersea  craft  during 
the  past  twelvemonth  and  more  in  the  indiscriminate 
destruction  of  merchant  vessels  of  all  sorts,  nationalities, 
and  destinations.  If  the  sinking  of  the  "Sussex"  had 
been  an  isolated  case  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
might  find  it  possible  to  hope  that  the  officer  who  was 
responsible  for  that  act  had  wilfully  violated  his  orders 
or  had  been  criminally  negligent  in  taking  none  of  the 
precautions  they  prescribed,  and  that  the  ends  of  justice 
might  be  satisfied  by  imposing  upon  him  an  adequate 
punishment,  coupled  with  a  formal  disavowal  of  the  act 
and  payment  of  a  suitable  indemnity  by  the  Imperial 
Government.  But,  though  the  attack  upon  the  "Sussex" 
was  manifestly  indefensible  and  caused  a  loss  of  life  so 
tragical  as  to  make  it  stand  forth  as  one  of  the  most 
terrible  examples  of  the  inhumanity  of  submarine  war- 
fare as  the  commanders  of  German  vessels  are  conducting 
it,  it  unhappily  does  not  stand  alone. 

On  the  contrary,  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
is  forced  by  recent  events  to  conclude  that  it  is  only  one 
instance,  even  though  one  of  the  most  extreme  and  most 
distressing  instances,  of  the  deliberate  method  and  spirit 
of  indiscriminate  destruction  of  merchant  vessels  of  all 
sorts,  nationalities,  and  destinations  which  have  become 
more  and  more  unmistakable  as  the  activity  of  German 
undersea  vessels  of  war  has  in  recent  months  been  quick- 
ened and  extended. 


HISTOKY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  275 

The  Imperial  Government  will  recall  that  when,  in 
February,  1915,  it  announced  its  intention  of  treating 
the  waters  surrounding  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  as 
embraced  within  the  seat  of  war  and  of  destroying  all 
merchant  ships  owned  by  its  enemies  that  might  be 
found  within  that  zone  of  danger,  and  warned  all  vessels, 
neutral  as  well  as  belligerent,  to  keep  out  of  the  waters 
thus  proscribed  or  to  enter  them  at  their  peril,  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  earnestly  protested.  It 
took  the  position  that  such  a  policy  could  not  be  pursued 
without  constant  gross  and  palpable  violations  of  the 
accepted  law  of  nations,  particularly  if  submarine  craft 
were  to  be  employed  as  its  instruments,  inasmuch  as  the 
rules  prescribed  by  that  law,  rules  founded  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  humanity  and  established  for  the  protection  of 
the  lives  of  noncombatants  at  sea,  could  not  in  the  nature 
of  the  case  be  observed  by  such  vessels.  It  based  its  pro- 
test on  the  ground  that  persons  of  neutral  nationality  and 
vessels  of  neutral  ownership  would  be  exposed  to  extreme 
and  intolerable  risks ;  and  that  no  right  to  close  any  part 
of  the  high  seas  could  lawfully  be  asserted  by  the  Im- 
perial Government  in  the  circumstances  then  existing. 
The  law  of  nations  in  these  matters,  upon  which  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  based  that  protest,  is  not 
of  recent  origin  or  founded  upon  merely  arbitrary  prin- 
ciples set  up  by  convention.  It  is  based,  on  the  contrary, 
upon  manifest  principles  of  humanity  and  has  long  been 
established  with  the  approval  and  by  the  express  assent 
of  all  civilized  nations. 

The  Imperial  Government,  notwithstanding,  persisted 
in  carrying  out  the  policy  announced,  expressing  the  hope 
that  the  dangers  involved,  at  any  rate  to  neutral  vessels, 
would  be  reduced  to  a  minimum  by  the  instructions 
which  it  had  issued  to  the  commanders  of  its  submarines, 


276  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

and  assuring  the  Government  of  the  United  States  that  it 
would  take  every  possible  precaution  both  to  respect  the 
rights  of  neutrals  and  to  safeguard  the  lives  of  noncom- 
batants. 

In  pursuance  of  this  policy  of  submarine  warfare 
against  the  commerce  of  its  adversaries,  thus  announced 
and  thus  entered  upon  in  despite  of  the  solemn  protest  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  the  commanders  of 
the  Imperial  Government 's  undersea  vessels  have  carried 
on  practices  of  such  ruthless  destruction  which  have  made 
it  more  and  more  evident  as  the  months  have  gone  by 
that  the  Imperial  Government  has  found  it  impracticable 
to  put  any  such  restraints  upon  them  as  it  had  hoped  and 
promised  to  put.  Again  and  again  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment has  given  its  solemn  assurances  to  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  that  at  least  passenger  ships  would 
not  be  thus  dealt  with,  and  yet  it  has  repeatedly  per- 
mitted its  undersea  commanders  to  disregard  those  assur- 
ances with  entire  impunity.  As  recently  as  February 
last  it  gave  notice  that  it  would  regard  all  armed  mer- 
chantmen owned  by  its  enemies  as  part  of  the  armed 
naval  forces  of  its  adversaries  and  deal  with  them  as  with 
men-of-war,  thus,  at  least  by  implication,  pledging  itself 
to  give  warning  to  vessels  which  were  not  armed  and  to 
accord  security  of  life  to  their  passengers  and  crews ;  but 
even  this  limitation  their  submarine  commanders  have 
recklessly  ignored. 

Vessels  of  neutral  ownership,  even  vessels  of  neutral 
ownership  bound  from  neutral  port  to  neutral  port,  have 
been  destroyed  along  with  vessels  of  belligerent  owner- 
ship in  constantly  increasing  numbers.  Sometimes  the 
merchantmen  attacked  have  been  warned  and  summoned 
to  surrender  before  being  fired  on  or  torpedoed ;  some- 
times their  passengers  and  crews  have  been  vouchsafed 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  277 

the  poor  security  of  being  allowed  to  take  to  the  ship's 
boats  before  the  ship  was  sent  to  the  bottom.  But  again 
and  again  no  warning  has  been  given,  no  escape  even  to 
the  ship 's  boats  allowed  to  those  on  board.  Great  liners 
like  the  ' '  Lusitania ' '  and  ' '  Arabic ' '  and  mere  passenger 
boats  like  the  "Sussex"  have  been  attacked  without  a 
moment's  warning,  often  before  they  have  even  become 
aware  that  they  were  in  the  presence  of  an  armed  ship  of 
the  enemy,  and  the  lives  of  noncombatants,  passengers, 
and  crew  have  been  destroyed  wholesale  and  in  a  manner 
which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  can  not  but 
regard  as  wanton  and  without  the  slightest  color  of  justi- 
fication. No  limit  of  any  kind  has  in  fact  been  set  to  their 
indiscriminate  pursuit  and  destruction  of  merchantmen 
of  all  kinds  and  nationalities  within  the  waters  which  the 
Imperial  Government  has  chosen  to  designate  as  lying 
within  the  seat  of  war.  The  roll  of  Americans  who  have 
lost  their  lives  upon  ships  thus  attacked  and  destroyed 
has  grown  month  by  month  until  the  ominous  toll  has 
mounted  into  the  hundreds. 

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  been  very 
patient.  At  every  stage  of  this  distressing  experience  of 
tragedy  after  tragedy  it  has  sought  to  be  governed  by  the 
most  thoughtful  consideration  of  the  extraordinary  cir- 
cumstances of  an  unprecedented  war  and  to  be  guided  by 
sentiments  of  very  genuine  friendship  for  the  people 
and  Government  of  Germany.  It  has  accepted  the  suc- 
cessive explanations  and  assurances  of  the  Imperial  Gov- 
ernment as  of  course  given  in  entire  sincerity  and  good 
faith,  and  has  hoped,  even  against  hope,  that  it  would 
prove  to  be  possible  for  the  Imperial  Government  so  to 
order  and  control  the  acts  of  its  naval  commanders  as 
to  square  its  policy  with  the  recognized  principles  of 
humanity  as  embodied  in  the  law  of  nations.  It  has 


278  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

made  every  allowance  for  unprecedented  conditions  and 
has  been  willing  to  wait  until  the  facts  became  unmis- 
takable and  were  susceptible  of  only  one  interpretation. 

It  now  owes  it  to  a  just  regard  for  its  own  rights  to 
say  to  the  Imperial  Government  that  that  time  has  come. 
It  has  become  painfully,  evident  to  it  that  the  position 
which  it  took  at  the  very  outset  is  inevitable,  namely,  the 
use  of  submarines  for  the  destruction  of  an  enemy 's  com- 
merce, is,  of  necessity,  because  of  the  very  character  of 
the  vessels  employed  and  the  very  methods  of  attack 
which  their  employment  of  course  involves,  utterly  in- 
compatible with  the  principles  of  humanity,  the  long- 
established  and  incontrovertible  rights  of  neutrals,  and 
the  sacred  immunities  of  noncombatants. 

If  it  is  still  the  purpose  of  the  Imperial  Government 
to  prosecute  relentless  and  indiscriminate  warfare  against 
vessels  of  commerce  by  the  use  of  submarines  without 
regard  to  what  the  Government  of  the  United  States  must 
consider  the  sacred  and  indisputable  rules  of  interna- 
tional law  and  the  universally  recognized  dictates  of 
humanity,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  at  last 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  but  one  course  it 
can  pursue.  Unless  the  Imperial  Government  should  now 
immediately  declare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of  its 
present  methods  of  submarine  warfare  against  passenger 
and  freight-carrying  vessels,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  can  have  no  choice  ~but  to  sever  diplomatic 
relations  with  the  German  Empire  altogether.  This 
action  the  Government  of  the  United  States  contemplates 
with  the  greatest  reluctance  but  feels  constrained  to  take 
in  behalf  of  humanity  and  the  rights  of  neutral  nations. 

LANSING. 


HISTOEY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  279 

FACTS  IN  "SUSSEX"  CASE 

The  French  channel  steamer  "Sussex,"  employed 
regularly  in  passenger  service  between  the  ports  of  Folke- 
stone, England,  and  Dieppe,  France,  as  it  had  been  for 
years,  left  Folkestone  for  Dieppe  at  1:25  p.  m.,  March 
24,  1916,  with  325  or  more  passengers  and  a  crew  of  53 
men.  The  passengers,  among  whom  were  about  25  Ameri- 
can citizens,  were  of  several  nationalities  and  many  of 
them  were  women  and  children  and  nearly  half  of  them 
subjects  of  neutral  states.  The  "Sussex"  carried  no 
armament,  had  never  been  employed  as  a  troop  ship,  and 
was  following  a  route  not  used  for  transporting  troops 
from  Great  Britain  to  France. 

The  steamer  proceeded  on  its  course  almost  due  south 
after  passing  Dungeness.  The  weather  was  clear  and  the 
sea  smooth.  At  2:50  p.  m.,  when  the  "Sussex"  was 
about  13  miles  from  Dungeness,  the  captain  of  the  ves- 
sel, who  was  on  the  bridge,  saw  about  150  meters  from 
the  ship,  on  the  port  side,  the  wake  of  a  torpedo.  It  was 
also  seen  very  clearly  by  the  first  officer  and  the  boat- 
swain who  were  with  the  captain  on  the  bridge.  Imme- 
diately the  captain  gave  orders  to  port  the  helm  and 
stop  the  starboard  engine,  the  purpose  being  to  swing 
the  vessel  to  starboard  so  as  to  dodge  the  torpedo  by 
allowing  it  to  pass  along  the  port  bow  on  a  line  con- 
verging with  the  altered  course  of  the  steamer.  Before, 
however,  the  vessel  could  be  turned  far  enough  to  avoid 
crossing  the  course  of  the  torpedo,  the  latter  struck  the 
hull  at  an  angle  a  short  distance  forward  of  the  bridge, 
exploded,  destroyed  the  entire  forward  part  of  the 
steamer  as  far  back  as  the  first  water-tight  bulkhead, 
carried  away  the  foremast  with  the  wireless  antenna? 
and  killed  or  injured  about  80  of  the  persons  on  board. 


280  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

PEACE  NOTE  TO  THE  POWERS 

The  Secretary  of  State  to  Ambassador  W.  H.  Page 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  December  18,  1916. 

The  President  directs  me  to  send  you  the  following 
communication  to  be  presented  immediately  to  the  Min- 
ister of  Foreign  Affairs  of  the  Government  to  which  you 
are  accredited: 

"The  President  of  the  United  States  has  instructed 
me  to  suggest  to  His  Majesty's  Government  a  course  of 
action  with  regard  to  the  present  war  which  he  hopes  that 
the  British  Government  will  take  under  consideration  as 
suggested  in  the  most  friendly  spirit  and  as  coming  not 
only  from  a  friend  but  also  as  coming  from  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  neutral  nation  whose  interests  have  been 
most  seriously  affected  by  the  war  and  whose  concern  for 
its  early  conclusion  arises  out  of  a  manifest  necessity  to 
determine  how  best  to  safeguard  those  interests  if  the  war 
is  to  continue. 

"The  suggestion  which  I  am  instructed  to  make  the 
President  has  long  had  it  in  mind  to  offer.  He  is  some- 
what embarrassed  to  offer  it  at  this  particular  time  be- 
cause it  may  now  seem  to  have  been  prompted  by  the 
recent  overtures  of  the  Central  Powers.  It  is  in  fact  in 
no  way  associated  with  them  in  its  origin  and  the  Presi- 
dent would  have  delayed  offering  it  until  those  overtures 
had  been  answered  but  for  the  fact  that  it  also  concerns 
the  question  of  peace  and  may  best  be  considered  in  con- 
nection with  other  proposals  which  have  the  same  end  in 
view.  The  President  can  only  beg  that  his  suggestion 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  281 

be  considered  entirely  on  its  own  merits  and  as  if  it  had 
been  made  in  other  circumstances. 

"The  President  suggests  that  an  early  occasion  be 
sought  to  call  out  from  all  the  nations  now  at  war  such 
an  avowal  of  their  respective  views  as  to  the  terms  upon 
which  the  war  might  be  concluded  and  the  arrangements 
which  would  be  deemed  satisfactory  as  a  guaranty  against 
its  renewal  or  the  kindling  of  any  similar  conflict  in  the 
future  as  would  make  it  possible  frankly  to  compare  them. 
He  is  indifferent  as  to  the  means  taken  to  accomplish  this. 
He  would  be  happy  himself  to  serve  or  even  to  take  the 
initiative  in  its  accomplishment  in  any  way  that  might 
prove  acceptable,  but  he  has  no  desire  to  determine  the 
method  or  the  instrumentality.  One  way  will  be  as  ac- 
ceptable to  him  as  another  if  only  the  great  object  he  has 
in  mind  is  attained. 

"He  takes  the  liberty  of  calling  attention  to  the  fact 
that  the  objects  which  the  statesmen  of  the  belligerents 
on  both  sides  have  in  mind  in  this  war  are  virtually  the 
same,  as  stated  in  general  terms  to  their  own  people  and 
to  the  world.  Each  side  desires  to  make  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  weak  peoples  and  small  States  as  secure 
against  aggression  or  denial  in  the  future  as  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  great  and  powerful  States  now  at 
war.  Each  wishes  itself  to  be  made  secure  in  the  future, 
along  with  all  other  nations  and  peoples,  against  the  re- 
currence of  wars  like  this  and  against  aggression  of  selfish 
interference  of  any  kind.  Each  would  be  jealous  of 
the  formation  of  any  more  rival  leagues  to  preserve  an 
uncertain  balance  of  power  amidst  multiplying  suspi- 
cions; but  each  is  ready  to  consider  the  formation  of  a 
league  of  nations  to  insure  peace  and  justice  throughout 
the  world.  Before  that  final  step  can  be  taken,  however, 
each  deems  it  necessary  first  to  settle  the  issues  of  the 


282  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUHJiNTfci 

present  war  upon  terms  which  will  certainly  safeguard 
the  independence,  the  territorial  integrity,  and  the  po- 
litical and  commercial  freedom  of  the  nations  involved. 

"In  the  measures  to  be  taken  to  secure  the  future 
peace  of  the  world  the  people  and  Government  of  the 
United  States  are  as  vitally  and  as  directly  interested 
as  the  Governments  now  at  war.  Their  interest,  more- 
over, in  the  means  to  be  adopted  to  relieve  the  smaller 
and  weaker  peoples  of  the  world  of  the  peril  of  wrong 
and  violence  is  as  quick  and  ardent  as  that  of  any  other 
people  or  Government.  They  stand  ready,  and  even 
eager,  to  cooperate  in  the  accomplishment  of  these  ends, 
when  the  war  is  over,  with  every  influence  and  resource 
at  their  command.  But  the  war  must  first  be  concluded. 
The  terms  upon  which  it  is  to  be  concluded  they  are  not 
at  liberty  to  suggest ;  but  the  President  does  feel  that  it 
is  his  right  and  his  duty  to  point  out  their  intimate  in- 
terest in  its  conclusion,  lest  it  should  presently  be  too 
late  to  accomplish  the  greater  things  which  lie  beyond 
its  conclusion,  lest  the  situation  of  neutral  nations,  now 
exceedingly  hard  to  endure,  be  rendered  altogether  intol- 
erable, and  lest,  more  than  all,  an  injury  be  done  civiliza- 
tion itself  which  can  never  be  atoned  for  or  repaired. 

"The  President  therefore  feels  altogether  justified  in 
suggesting  an  immediate  opportunity  for  a  comparison 
of  views  as  to  the  terms  which  must  precede  those  ulti- 
mate arrangements  for  the  peace  of  the  world,  which 
all  desire  and  in  which  the  neutral  nations  as  well  as 
those  at  war  are  ready  to  play  their  full  responsible  part. 
If  the  contest  must  continue  to  proceed  towards  unde- 
fined ends  by  slow  attrition  until  the  one  group  of  bel- 
ligerents or  the  other  is  exhausted,  if  million  after  mil- 
lion of  human  lives  must  continue  to  be  offered  up  until 
on  the  one  side  or  the  other  there  are  no  more  to  offer, 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  283 

if  resentments  must  be  kindled  that  can  never  cool  and 
despairs  engendered  from  which  there  can  be  no  recov- 
ery, hopes  of  peace  and  of  the  willing  concert  of  free 
peoples  will  be  rendered  vain  and  idle. 

"The  life  of  the  entire  world  has  been  profoundly 
affected.  Every  part  of  the  great  family  of  mankind 
has  felt  the  burden  and  terror  of  this  unprecedented 
contest  of  arms.  No  nation  in  the  civilized  world  can 
be  said  in  truth  to  stand  outside  its^  influence  or  to  be 
safe  against  its  disturbing  effects.  And  yet  the  concrete 
objects  for  which  it  is  being  waged  have  never  been 
definitely  stated. 

"The  leaders  of  the  several  belligerents  have,  as  has 
been  said,  stated  those  objects  in  general  terms.  But, 
stated  in  general  terms,  they  seem  the  same  on  both 
sides.  Never  yet  have  the  authoritative  spokesmen  of 
either  side  avowed  the  precise  objects  which  would,  if 
attained,  satisfy  them  and  their  people  that  the  war  had 
been  fought  out.  The  world  has  been  left  to  conjecture 
what  definitive  results,  what  actual  exchange  of  guaran- 
tees, what  political  or  territorial  changes  or  readjust- 
ments, what  stage  of  military  success  even,  would  bring 
the  war  to  an  end. 

"It  may  be  that  peace  is  nearer  than  we  know;  that 
the  terms  which  the  belligerents  on  the  one  side  and  on 
the  other  would  deem  it  necessary  to  insist  upon  are  not 
so  irreconcilable  as  some  have  feared ;  that  an  interchange 
of  views  would  clear  the  way  at  least  for  conference  and 
make  the  permanent  concord  of  the  nations  a  hope  of 
the  immediate  future,  a  concert  of  nations  immediately 
practicable. 

* '  The  President  is  not  proposing  peace ;  he  is  not  even 
offering  mediation.  He  is  merely  proposing  that  sound- 
ings be  taken  in  order  that  we  may  learn,  the  neutral 


284  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

nations  with  the  belligerent,  how  near  the  haven  of  peace 
may  be  for  which  all  mankind  longs  with  an  intense  and 
increasing  longing.  He  believes  that  the  spirit  in  which 
he  speaks  and  the  objects  which  he  seeks  will  be  under- 
stood by  all  concerned,  and  he  confidently  hopes  for  a 
response  whch  will  bring  a  new  light  into  the  affairs  of 

the  world'"  LANSING. 

[A  note  similar  in  terms  to  the  above  was  addressed 
simultaneously  to  all  the  belligerent  powers.  The  an- 
swers of  the  Allies  took  the  form  of  an  Allied  Note, 
referred  to  in  the  following  document.] 


BRITISH  ANSWER  TO  PEACE  NOTE 

Memorandum  from  British.  Embassy,  Washington 

Foreign  Office, 
London,  January  13,  1917. 

Sir :  In  sending  you  a  translation  of  the  Allied  Note  I 
desire  to  make  the  following  observations,  which  you 
should  bring  to  the  notice  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment. 

I  gather  from  the  general  tenour  of  the  President's 
note  that  while  he  is  animated  by  an  intense  desire  that 
peace  should  come  soon  and  that  when  it  comes  it  should 
be  lasting,  he  does  not  for  the  moment  at  least  concern 
himself  with  the  terms  on  which  it  should  be  arranged. 
His  Majesty's  Government  entirely  share  the  President's 
ideas,  but  they  feel  strongly  that  the  durability  of  peace 
must  largely  depend  on  its  character  and  that  no  stable 
system  of  international  relations  can  be  built  on  founda- 
tions which  are  essentially  and  hopelessly  defective. 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  285 

This  becomes  clearly  apparent  if  we  consider  the  main 
conditions  which  rendered  possible  the  calamities  from 
which  the  world  is  now  suffering.  These  were  the  exist- 
ence of  great  powers  consumed  with  the  lust  of  domina- 
tion in  the  midst  of  a  community  of  nations  ill  prepared 
for  defence,  plentifully  supplied  indeed  with  interna- 
tional laws,  but  with  no  machinery  for  enforcing  them 
and  weakened  by  the  fact  that  neither  the  boundaries  of 
the  various  States  nor  their  internal  constitution  har- 
monised with  the  aspirations  of  their  constituent  races 
or  secured  to  them  just  and  equal  treatment. 

That  this  last  evil  would  be  greatly  mitigated  if  the 
Allies  secured  the  changes  in  the  map  of  Europe  outlined 
in  their  joint  note  is  manifest  and  I  need  not  labour  the 
point. 

It  has  been  argued,  indeed,  that  the  expulsion  of  the 
Turks  from  Europe  forms  no  proper  or  logical  part  of 
this  general  scheme.  The  maintenance  of  the  Turkish 
Empire  was,  during  many  generations,  regarded  by  states- 
men of  world-wide  authority  as  essential  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  European  peace.  Why,  it  is  asked,  should  the 
cause  of  peace  be  now  associated  with  a  complete  reversal 
of  this  traditional  policy? 

The  answer  is  that  circumstances  have  completely 
changed.  It  is  unnecessary  to  consider  now  whether  the 
creation  of  a  reformed  Turkey,  mediating  between  hostile 
races  in  the  Near  East,  was  a  scheme  which,  had  the 
Sultan  been  sincere  and  the  powers  united,  could  ever 
have  been  realised.  It  certainly  cannot  be  realised  now. 
The  Turkey  of  "Union  and  Progress"  is  at  least  as  bar- 
barous and  is  far  more  aggressive  than  the  Turkey  of 
Sultan  Abdul  Hamid.  In  the  hands  of  Germany  it  has 
ceased  even  in  appearance  to  be  a  bulwark  of  peace  and 
is  openly  used  as  an  instrument  of  conquest.  Under  Ger- 


286  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

man  officers  Turkish  soldiers  are  now  fighting  in  lands 
from  which  they  had  long  been  expelled,  and  a  Turkish 
Government,  controlled,  subsidized  and  supported  by 
Germany,  has  been  guilty  of  massacres  in  Armenia  and 
Syria  more  horrible  than  any  recorded  in  the  history 
even  of  those  unhappy  countries.  Evidently  the  interests 
of  peace  and  the  claims  of  nationality  alike  require  that 
Turkish  rule  over  alien  races  shall  if  possible  be  brought 
to  an  end ;  and  we  may  hope  that  the  expulsion  of  Turkey 
from  Europe  will  contribute  as  much  to  the  cause  of 
peace  as  the  restoration  of  Alsace  Lorraine  to  France,  of 
Italia  Irredenta  to  Italy,  or  any  of  the  other  territorial 
changes  indicated  in  the  Allied  Note. 

Evidently,  however,  such  territorial  re-arrangemente, 
though  they  may  diminish  the  occasions  of  war,  provide 
no  sufficient  security  against  its  recurrence.  If  Germany, 
or  rather  those  in  Germany  who  mould  its  opinions  and 
control  its  destinies,  again  set  out  to  domineer  the  world, 
they  may  find  that  by  the  new  order  of  things  the  ad- 
venture is  made  more  difficult,  but  hardly  that  it  is  made 
impossible.  They  may  still  have  ready  to  their  hand  a 
political  system  organised  through  and  through  on  a 
military  basis;  they  may  still  accumulate  vast  stores  of 
military  equipment ;  they  may  still  persist  in  their  meth- 
ods of  attack,  so  that  their  more  pacific  neighbours  will 
be  struck  down  before  they  can  prepare  themselves  for 
defence.  If  so,  Europe  when  the  war  is  over  will  be 
far  poorer  in  men,  in  money,  and  in  mutual  good  will  than 
it  was  when  the  war  began  but  it  will  not  be  safer ;  and 
the  hopes  for  the  future  of  the  world  entertained  by  the 
President  will  be  as  far  as  ever  from  fulfilment. 

There  are  those  who  think  that  for  this  disease  Inter- 
national Treaties  and  International  Laws  may  provide  a 
sufficient  cure.  But  such  persons  have  ill  learned  the 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  287 

lessons  so  clearly  taught  by  recent  history.  While  other 
nations,  notably  the  United  States  of  America  and 
Britain,  were  striving  by  treaties  of  arbitration  to  make 
sure  that  no  chance  quarrel  should  mar  the  peace  they 
desired  to  make  perpetual,  Germany  stood  aloof.  Her 
historians  and  philosophers  preached  the  splendours  of 
war,  power  was  proclaimed  as  the  true  end  of  the  State, 
and  the  General  Staff  forged  with  untiring  industry  the 
weapons  by  which  at  the  appointed  moment  power  might 
be  achieved.  These  facts  proved  clearly  enough  that 
Treaty  arrangements  for  maintaining  peace  were  not 
likely  to  find  much  favour  at  Berlin ;  they  did  not  prove 
that  such  Treaties  once  made  would  be  utterly  ineffectual. 
This  became  evident  only  when  war  had  broken  out, 
though  the  demonstration,  when  it  came,  was  overwhelm- 
ing. So  long  as  Germany  remains  the  Germany  which 
without  a  shadow  of  justification  overran  and  barbarously 
ill-treated  a  country  it  was  pledged  to  defend,  no  State 
can  regard  its  rights  as  secure  if  they  have  no  better 
protection  than  a  solemn  Treaty. 

The  case  is  made  worse  by  the  reflection  that  these 
methods  of  calculated  brutality  were  designed  by  the 
Central  Powers  not  merely  to  crush  to  the  dust  those  with 
whom  they  were  at  war  but  to  intimidate  those  with 
whom  they  were  still  at  peace.  Belgium  was  not  only  a 
victim,  it  was  an  example.  Neutrals  were  intended  to 
note  the  outrages  which  accompanied  its  conquest,  the 
reign  of  terror  which  followed  on  its  occupation,  the  de- 
portation of  a  portion  of  its  population,  the  cruel  oppres- 
sion of  the  remainder.  And  lest  the  nations  happily  pro- 
tected either  by  British  Fleets  or  by  their  own  from  Ger- 
man Armies  should  suppose  themselves  safe  from  German 
methods,  the  submarine  has  (within  its  limits)  assidu- 
ously imitated  the  barbarous  practices  of  the  sister  service. 


288  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

The  War  Staffs  of  the  Central  Powers  are  well  content  to 
horrify  the  world  if  at  the  same  time  they  can  terrorize  it. 

If,  then,  the  Central  Powers  succeed,  it  will  be  to 
methods  like  these  that  they  will  owe  their  success.  How 
can  any  reform  of  International  relations  be  based  on  a 
peace  thus  obtained  ?  Such  a  peace  would  represent  the 
triumph  of  all  the  forces  which  make  war  certain  and 
make  it  brutal.  It  would  advertise  the  futility  of  all  the 
methods  on  which  civilization  relies  to  eliminate  the  occa- 
sions of  International  dispute  and  to  mitigate  their  feroc- 
ity. Germany  and  Austria  made  the  present  war  in- 
evitable by  attacking  the  rights  of  one  small  State,  and 
they  gained  their  initial  triumphs  by  violating  the  Treaty 
guarantees  of  the  territories  of  another.  Are  small 
States  going  to  find  in  them  their  future  protectors  or  in 
Treaties  made  by  them  a  bulwark  against  aggression? 
Terrorism  by  land  and  sea  will  have  proved  itself  the  in- 
strument of  victory.  Are  the  victors  likely  to  abandon 
it  on  the  appeal  of  neutrals  ?  If  existing  Treaties  are  no 
more  than  scraps  of  paper,  can  fresh  Treaties  help  us? 
If  the  violation  of  the  most  fundamental  canons  of  Inter- 
national Law  be  crowned  with  success,  will  it  not  be  in 
vain  that  the  assembled  nations  labour  to  improve  their 
code?  None  will  profit  by  their  rules  but  Powers  who 
break  them.  It  is  those  who  keep  them  that  will  suffer. 

Though,  therefore,  the  people  of  this  country  share  to 
the  full  the  desire  of  the  President  for  peace,  they  do  not 
believe  peace  can  be  durable  if  it  be  not  based  on  the 
success  of  the  Allied  cause.  For  a  durable  peace  can 
hardly  be  expected  unless  three  conditions  are  fulfilled. 
The  first  is  that  existing  causes  of  international  unrest 
should  be,  as  far  as  possible,  removed  or  weakened.  The 
second  is  that  the  aggressive  aims  and  the  unscrupulous 
methods  of  the  Central  Powers  should  fall  into  disrepute 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  289 

among  their  own  peoples.  The  third  is  that  behind  inter- 
national law  and  behind  all  Treaty  arrangements  for  pre- 
venting or  limiting  hostilities  some  form  of  international 
sanction  should  be  devised  which  would  give  pause  to  the 
hardiest  aggressor.  These  conditions  may  be  difficult  of 
fulfilment.  But  we  believe  them  to  be  in  general  har- 
mony with  the  President's  ideas  and  we  are  confident 
that  none  of  them  can  be  satisfied,  even  imperfectly,  unless 
peace  be  secured  on  the  general  lines  indicated  (so  far  as 
Europe  is  concerned)  in  the  joint  note.  Therefore  it  is 
that  this  country  has  made,  is  making,  and  is  prepared 
to  make  sacrifices  of  blood  and  treasure  unparalleled  in 
its  history.  It  bears  these  heavy  burdens  not  merely  that 
it  may  thus  fulfil  its  Treaty  obligations  nor  yet  that  it 
may  secure  a  barren  triumph  of  one  group  of  nations 
over  another.  It  bears  them  because  it  firmly  believes 
that  on  the  success  of  the  Allies  depend  the  prospects  of 
peaceful  civilization  and  of  those  International  reforms 
which  the  best  thinkers  of  the  New  "World,  as  of  the  Old, 
dare  to  hope  may  follow  on  the  cessation  of  our  present 
calamities. 

I  am,  etc., 

(Signed)     ARTHUR  JAMES  BALFOUB. 

His  Excellency, 

The  Right  Honourable, 

Sir  Cecil  Spring  Rice,  G.  C.  M.  G., 
etc.,  etc.,  etc. 


290  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

THE  GERMAN  ANSWER 

"Foreign  Office, 
"Berlin,  December  26,  1916. 

"With  reference  to  the  esteemed  communication  of 
December  21,  Foreign  Office  No.  15118,  the  undersigned 
has  the  honojr  to  reply  as  follows:  To  His  Excellency 
the  Ambassador  of  the  United  States  of  America,  Mr. 
James  W.  Gerard. 

"The  Imperial  Government  has  accepted  and  consid- 
ered in  the  friendly  spirit  which  is  apparent  in  the  com- 
munication of  the  President,  noble  initiative  of  the  Presi- 
dent looking  to  the  creation  of  bases  for  the  foundation 
of  a  lasting  peace.  The  President  discloses  the  aim  which 
lies  next  to  his  heart  and  leaves  the  choice  of  the  way 
open.  A  direct  exchange  of  views  appears  to  the  Im- 
perial Government  as  the  most  suitable  way  of  arriving 
at  the  desired  result.  The  Imperial  Government  has  the 
honor,  therefore,  in  the  sense  of  its  declaration  of  the 
12th  instant,  which  offered  the  hand  for  peace  negotia* 
tions,  to  propose  the  speedy  assembly,  on  neutral  ground, 
of  delegates  of  the  warring  States. 

"It  is  also  the  view  of  the  Imperial  Government  that 
the  great  work  for  the  prevention  of  future  wars  can 
first  be  taken  up  only  after  the  ending  of  the  present 
conflict  of  exhaustion.  The  Imperial  Government  is 
ready,  when  this  point  has  been  reached,  to  cooperate 
with  the  United  States  at  this  sublime  task. 

"The  undersigned,  while  permitting  himself  to  have 
recourse  to  good  offices  of  His  Excellency  the  Ambassador 
in  connection  with  the  transmission  of  the  above  reply 
to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  avails  himself  of 
this  opportunity  to  renew  the  assurances  of  his  highest 
consideration.  "ZIMMERMAN." 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  291 

GERMANY'S  LAST  MEMORANDUM 

The  German  Ambassador  to  the  Secretary  of  State 

German  Embassy, 
Washington,  January  31,  1917. 

MR.  SECRETARY  OF  STATE  : 

Your  Excellency  was  good  enough  to  transmit  to  the 
Imperial  Government  a  copy  of  the  message  which  the 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America  addressed  to 
the  Senate  on  the  22d  inst.  The  Imperial  Government 
has  given  it  the  earnest  consideration  which  the  Presi- 
dent's statements  deserve,  inspired  as  they  are,  by  a  deep 
sentiment  of  responsibility.  It  is  highly  gratifying  to 
the  Imperial  Government  to  ascertain  that  the  main 
tendencies  of  this  important  statement  correspond  largely 
to  the  desires  and  principles  professed  by  Germany. 
These  principles  especially  include  self-government  and 
equality  of  rights  for  all  nations.  Germany  would  be 
sincerely  glad  if  in  recognition  of  this  principle  countries 
like  Ireland  and  India,  which  do  not  enjoy  the  benefits 
of  political  independence,  should  now  obtain  their  free- 
dom. The  German  people  also  repudiate  all  alliances 
which  serve  to  force  the  countries  into  a  competition  for 
might  and  to  involve  them  in  a  net  of  selfish  intrigues. 
On  the  other  hand  Germany  will  gladly  cooperate  in  all 
efforts  to  prevent  future  wars.  The  freedom  of  the  seas, 
being  a  preliminary  condition  of  the  free  existence  of 
nations  and  the  peaceful  intercourse  between  them,  as  well 
as  the  open  door  for  the  commerce  of  all  nations,  has 
always  formed  part  of  the  leading  principles  of  Ger- 
many's political  program.  All  the  more  the  Imperial 
Government  regrets  that  the  attitude  of  her  enemies  who 


292  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

are  so  entirely  opposed  to  peace  makes  it  impossible  for 
the  world  at  present  to  bring  about  tbe  realization  of 
these  lofty  ideals.  Germany  and  her  allies  were  ready 
to  enter  now  into  a  discussion  of  peace  and  had  set  down 
as  basis  the  guaranty  of  existence,  honor  and  free  develop- 
ment of  their  peoples.  Their  aims,  as  has  been  expressly 
stated  in  the  note  of  December  12, 1916,  were  not  directed 
towards  the  destruction  or  annihilation  of  their  enemies 
and  were  according  to  their  conviction  perfectly  com- 
patible with  the  rights  of  the  other  nations.  As  to  Bel- 
gium, for  which  such  warm  and  cordial  sympathy  is  felt 
in  the  United  States,  the  Chancellor  had  declared  only 
a  few  weeks  previously  that  its  annexation  had  never 
formed  part  of  Germany's  intentions.  The  peace  to  be 
signed  with  Belgium  was  to  provide  such  conditions 
in  that  country,  with  which  Germany  desires  to  maintain 
friendly  neighborly  relations,  that  Belgium  should  not 
be  used  again  by  Germany's  enemies  for  the  purpose  of 
instigating  continuous  hostile  intrigues.  Such  precau- 
tionary measures  are  all  the  more  necessary,  as  Ger- 
many's enemies  have  repeatedly  stated  not  only  in 
speeches  delivered  by  their  leading  men,  but  also  in  the 
statutes  of  the  economical  conference  in  Paris,  that  it  is 
their  intention  not  to  treat  Germany  as  an  equal,  even 
after  peace  has  been  restored,  but  to  continue  their 
hostile  attitude  and  especially  to  wage  a  systematical 
economical  war  against  her. 

The  attempt  of  the  four  allied  powers  to  bring  about 
peace  has  failed  owing  to  the  lust  of  conquest  of  their 
enemies,  who  desired  to  dictate  the  conditions  of  peace. 
Under  the  pretence  of  following  the  principle  of  nation- 
ality our  enemies  have  disclosed  their  real  aims  in  this 
war,  viz.,  to  dismember  and  dishonor  Germany,  Austria- 
Hungary,  Turkey  and  Bulgaria.  To  the  wish  of  recon- 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  293 

ciliation  they  oppose  the  will  of  destruction.  They  desire 
a  fight  to  the  bitter  end. 

A  new  situation  has  thus  been  created  which  forces 
Germany  to  new  decisions.  Since  two  years  and  a  half 
England  is  using  her  naval  power  for  a  criminal  attempt 
to  force  Germany  into  submission  by  starvation.  In 
brutal^  contempt  of  International  Law  the  group  of  Pow- 
ers led  by  England  does  not  only  curtail  the  legitimate 
trade  of  their  opponents  but  they  also  by  ruthless  press- 
ure compel  neutral  countries  either  to  altogether  forego 
every  trade  not  agreeable  to  the  Entente-Powers  or  to 
limit  it  according  to  their  arbitrary  decrees.  The  Ameri- 
can Government  knows  the  steps  which  have  been  taken 
to  cause  England  and  her  allies  to  return  to  the  rules  of 
International  Law  and  to  respect  the  freedom  of  the  seas. 
The  English  Government,  however,  insists  upon  continu- 
ing its  war  of  starvation,  which  does  not  at  all  affect  the 
military  power  of  its  opponents,  but  compels  women  and 
children,  the  sick  and  the  aged  to  suffer,  for  their  country, 
pains  and  privations  which  endanger  the  vitality  of  the 
nation.  Thus  British  tyranny  mercilessly  increases  the 
suffering  of  the  world  indifferent  to  the  laws  of  human- 
ity, indifferent  to  the  protests  of  the  neutrals  whom  they 
severely  harm,  indifferent  even  to  the  silent  longing  for 
peace  among  England's  own  allies.  Each  day  of  the 
terrible  struggle  causes  new  destruction,  new  sufferings. 
Each  day  shortening  the  war  will,  on  both  sides,  preserve 
the  life  of  thousands  of  brave  soldiers  and  be  a  benefit 
to  mankind. 

The  Imperial  Government  could  not  justify  before  its 
own  conscience,  before  the  German  people  and  before 
history  the  neglect  of  any  means  destined  to  bring 
about  the  end  of  the  war.  Like  the  President  of  the 
United  States  the  Imperial  Government  had  hoped  to 


294  HISTOEY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

reach  this  goal  by  negotiations.  After  the  attempts  to 
come  to  an  understanding  with  the  Entente-Powers  have 
been  answered  by  the  latter  with  the  announcement  of  an 
intensified  continuation  of  the  war,  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment— in  order  to  serve  the  welfare  of  mankind  in  a 
higher  sense  and  not  to  wrong  its  own  people — is  now 
compelled  to  continue  the  fight  for  existence,  again  forced 
upon  it,  with  the  full  employment  of  all  the  weapons 
which  are  at  its  disposal. 

Sincerely  trusting  that  the  people  and  Government  of 
the  United  States  will  understand  the  motives  for  this 
decision  and  its  necessity,  the  Imperial  Government  hopes 
that  the  United  States  may  view  the  new  situation  from 
the  lofty  heights  of  impartiality  and  assist,  on  their  part, 
to  prevent  further  misery  and  avoidable  sacrifice  of 
human  life. 

Enclosing  memoranda  regarding  the  details  of  the 
contemplated  military  measures  at  sea,  I  remain,  etc., 

(Signed)     J.  BERNSTORFP. 


Part  of  Memorandum  Accompanying1  the  Above  Note 

The  instructions  given  to  the  commanders  of  German 
submarines  provide  for  a  sufficiently  long  period  during 
which  the  safety  of  passengers  on  unarmed  enemy  pas- 
senger ships  is  guaranteed. 

Americans,  en  route  to  the  blockade  zone  on  enemy 
freight  steamers,  are  not  endangered,  as  the  enemy  ship- 
ping firms  can  prevent  such  ships  in  time  from  entering 
the  zone. 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  295 

Sailing  of  regular  American  passenger  steamers  may 
continue  undisturbed  after  February  1,  1917,  if 

(a)  the  port  of  destination  is  Palmouth 

(b)  sailing  to  or  coming  from  that  port  course  is  taken 
via  the  Scilly  Islands  and  a  point  50  degrees  north  20 
degrees  west, 

(c)  the  steamers  are  marked  in  the  following  way 
which  must  not  be  allowed  to  other  vessels  in  American 
ports:    On  ships'  hull  and  superstructure  three  vertical 
stripes  one  meter  wide  each  to  be  painted  alternately 
white  and  red.     Each  mast  should  show  a  large  flag 
checkered  white  and  red,  and  the  stern  the  American 
national  flag. 

Care  should  be  taken  that,  during  dark,  national  flag 
and  painted  marks  are  easily  recognizable  from  a  distance 
and  that  the  boats  are  well  lighted  throughout. 

(d)  one  steamer  a  week  sails  in  each  direction  with 
arrival  at  Falmouth  on  Sunday  and  departure  from,  Fal- 
mouth  on  "Wednesday. 

(e)  The  United  States  Government  guarantees  that 
no  contraband  (according  to  German  contraband  list)  is 
carried  by  those  steamers. 


296  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS  SEVERED 

The  United  States  Secretary  of  State  to  the  German 
Ambassador 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  February  3,  1917. 
EXCELLENCY  : 

In  acknowledging  the  note  with  accompanying  memo- 
randa, which  you  delivered  into  my  hands  on  the  after- 
noon of  January  31st,  and  which  announced  the  purpose 
of  your  Government  as  to  the  future  conduct  of  sub- 
marine warfare,  I  would  direct  your  attention  to  the 
following  statements  appearing  in  the  correspondence 
which  has  passed  between  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  and  the  Imperial  German  Government  in  regard 
to  submarine  warfare. 

This  Government  on  April  18,  1916,  in  presenting  the 
case  of  the  "Sussex,"  declared — 

' '  If  it  is  still  the  purpose  of  the  Imperial  Government 
to  prosecute  relentless  and  indiscriminate  warfare  against 
vessels  of  commerce  by  the  use  of  submarines  without 
regard  to  what  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
must  consider  the  sacred  and  indisputable  rules  of  inter- 
national law  and  the  universally  recognized  dictates  of 
humanity,  the  Government  of  the  United  States  is  at  last 
forced  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  but  one  course  it 
can  pursue.  Unless  the  Imperial  Government  should  now 
immediately  declare  and  effect  an  abandonment  of  its 
present  methods  of  submarine  warfare  against  passenger 
and  freight-carrying  vessels,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  can  have  no  choice  but  to  sever  diplomatic 
relations  with  the  German  Empire  altogether." 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  297 

In  reply  to  the  note  from  which  the  above  declaration 
is  quoted  Your  Excellency's  Government  stated  in  a  note 
dated  May  4,  1916— 

"The  German  Government,  guided  by  this  idea,  noti- 
fies the  Government  of  the  United  States  that  the  Ger- 
man naval  forces  have  received  the  following  orders: 
In  accordance  with  the  general  principles  of  visit  and 
search  and  destruction  of  merchant  vessels  recognized 
by  international  law,  such  vessels,  both  within  and  with- 
out the  area  declared  as  naval  war  zone,  shall  not  be  sunk 
without  warning  and  without  saving  human  lives,  unless 
these  ships  attempt  to  escape  or  offer  resistance. 

"But  neutrals  can  not  expect  that  Germany,  forced 
to  fight  for  her  existence,  shall,  for  the  sake  of  neutral 
interests,  restrict  the  use  of  an  effective  weapon  if  her 
enemy  is  permitted  to  continue  to  apply  at  will  methods 
of  warfare  violating  the  rules  of  international  law.  Such 
a  demand  would  be  incompatible  with  the  character  of 
neutrality,  and  the  German  Government  is  convinced 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  does  not  think 
of  making  such  a  demand,  knowing  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  has  repeatedly  declared  that 
it  is  determined  to  restore  the  principle  of  the, freedom 
of  the  seas,  from  whatever  quarter  it  has  been  violated. ' ' 

To  this  reply  this  Government  made  answer  on  May  8, 
1916,  in  the  following  language : 

"The  Government  of  the  United  States  feels  it  neces- 
sary to  state  that  it  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  Imperial 
German  Government  does  not  intend  to  imply  that  the 
maintenance  of  its  newly  announced  policy  is  in  any  way 
contingent  upon  the  course  or  result  of  diplomatic  nego- 
tiations between  the  Government  of  the  United  States 


298  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

and  any  other  belligerent  Government,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  certain  passages  in  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment's note  of  the  4th  instant  might  appear  to  be  sus- 
ceptible of  that  construction.  In  order,  however,  to  avoid 
any  possible  misunderstanding,  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  notifies  the  Imperial  Government  that  it 
can  not  for  a  moment  entertain,  much  less  discuss,  a  sug- 
gestion that  respect  by  German  naval  authorities  for  the 
rights  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  upon  the  high  seas 
should  in  any  way  or  in  the  slightest  degree  be  made 
contingent  upon  the  conduct  of  any  other  Government 
affecting  the  rights  of  neutrals  and  noncombatants.  Ke- 
sponsibility  in  such  matters  is  single,  not  joint ;  absolute, 
not  relative." 

To  this  Government's  note  of  May  8th  no  reply  was 
made  by  the  Imperial  Government. 

In  one  of  the  memoranda  accompanying  the  note  under 
acknowledgment,  after  reciting  certain  alleged  illegal 
measures  adopted  by  Germany's  enemies,  this  statement 
appears : 

"The  Imperial  Government,  therefore,  does  not  doubt 
that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  under- 
stand the  situation  thus  forced  upon  Germany  by  the 
Entente-Allies'  brutal  methods  of  war  and  by  their 
determination  to  destroy  the  Central  Powers,  and  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  will  further  realize 
that  the  now  openly  disclosed  intentions  of  the  Entente- 
Allies  give  back  to  Germany  the  freedom  of  action  which 
she  reserved  in  her  note  addressed  to  the  Government 
of  the  United  States  on  May  4,  1916. 

"Under  these  circumstances  Germany  will  meet  the 
illegal  measures  of  her  enemies  by  forcibly  preventing, 
after  February  1,  1917,  in  a  zone  around  Great  Britain, 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  299 

France,  Italy,  and  in  the  eastern  Mediterranean  all  navi- 
gation, that  of  neutrals  included,  from  and  to  England 
and  from  and  to  France,  etc.,  etc.  All  ships  met  within 
the  zone  will  be  sunk." 

In  view  of  this  declaration,  which  withdraws  suddenly 
and  without  prior  intimation  the  solemn  assurance  given 
in  the  Imperial  Government's  note  of  May  4,  1916,  this 
Government  has  no  alternative  consistent  with  the  dig- 
nity and  honor  of  the  United  States  but  to  take  the 
course  which  it  explicitly  announced  in  its  note  of  April 
18,  1916,  it  would  take  in  the  event  that  the  Imperial 
Government  did  not  declare  and  effect  an  abandonment 
of  the  methods  of  submarine  warfare  then  employed  and 
to  which  the  Imperial  Government  now  purpose  again 
to  resort. 

The  President  has,  therefore,  directed  me  to  announce 
to  Your  Excellency  that  all  diplomatic  relations  between 
the  United  States  and  the  German  Empire  are  severed, 
and  that  the  American  Ambassador  at  Berlin  will  be 
immediately  withdrawn,  and  in  accordance  with  such 
announcement  to  deliver  to  Your  Excellency  your  pass- 
ports. 

I  have,  etc. 

ROBERT  LANSING. 


300  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

AMERICAN  MINISTER  WITHDRAWN 
FROM  BELGIUM 

Department  of  State, 
Washington,  March  24,  1917. 

By  direction  of  the  President,  the  Minister  at  Brussels 
has  been  instructed  to  withdraw  from  Belgium,  with  all 
diplomatic  and  consular  officers,  and  take  up  his  official 
residence  at  Havre. 

After  consultation  with  the  Commission  for  Relief 
in  Belgium,  Mr.  Whitlock  has  also  been  instructed  to 
arrange  for  the  departure  of  the  American  members  of 
the  Commission. 

This  step,  the  seriousness  of  which  is  fully  appreciated 
by  the  Government,  was  taken  only  after  careful  con- 
sideration and  full  consultation  with  all  the  interests 
involved. 

"When  diplomatic  relations  with  Germany  were  broken 
off  the  normal  procedure  would  have  been  to  withdraw 
the  Minister  at  Brussels  and  the  American  members  of 
the  Eelief  Commission.  Both  this  Government  and  the 
Commission,  however,  felt  a  heavy  moral  responsibility 
for  the  millions  of  innocent  civilians  behind  the  Ger- 
man lines,  and  it  was  decided  that  the  work  of  the  Com- 
mission must  be  kept  going  despite  all  difficulties  until 
continued  American  participation  became  impossible. 
For  over  two  years  it  has  been  the  single-minded  pur- 
pose of  this  Government  and  the  Commission  to  see  that 
these  ten  millions  of  civilians  were  fed,  and,  with  this 
end  in  view,  the  Americans  concerned  have  submitted  to 
restrictions  imposed  on  them  by  the  German  authorities 
which,  under  ordinary  conditions,  would  never  have 
been  tolerated. 

Immediately  after  tue  break  in  relations  the  German 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  301 

authorities  in  Brussels  withdrew  from  Mr.  "Whitlock  the 
diplomatic  privileges  and  immunities  which  he  had  until 
that  time  enjoyed.  His  courier  service  to  The  Hague 
was  stopped ;  he  was  denied  the  privilege  of  communi- 
cating with  the  Department  of  State  in  cipher,  and  later 
even  in  plain  language.  The  members  of  the  Belief 
Commission  were  placed  under  great  restrictions  of 
movement  and  communication  which  hampered  the  effi- 
cient performance  of  their  task.  In  spite  of  all  these 
difficulties  the  Government  and  Commission  were  deter- 
mined to  keep  the  work  going  till  the  last  possible  mo- 
ment. 

Now,  however,  a  more  serious  difficulty  has  arisen.  In 
the  course  of  the  past  10  days  several  of  the  Commis- 
sion's ships  have  been  attacked  without  warning  by 
German  submarines  in  flagrant  violation  of  the  solemn 
engagements  of  the  German  Government.  Protests  ad- 
dressed by  this  Government  to  Berlin  through  the  inter- 
mediary of  the  Spanish  Government  have  not  been 
answered.  The  German  Government's  disregard  of  its 
written  undertakings  causes  grave  concern  as  to  the 
future  of  the  relief  work.  In  any  event  it  is  felt  that 
the  American  staff  of  the  Commission  can  no  longer 
serve  with  advantage  in  Belgium.  Although  a  verbal 
promise  has  been  made  that  the  members  of  the  Commis- 
sion would  be  permitted  to  leave  if  they  so  desire,  the 
German  Government's  observance  of  its  other  undertak- 
ings has  not  been  such  that  the  department  wou'd  feel 
warranted  in  accepting  responsibility  for  leaving  these 
American  citizens  in  German-occupied  territory. 

This  Government  has  approved  the  proposal  of  the 
Netherlands  Government  to  send  into  Belgium  a  certain 
number  of  Netherlands  subjects  to  carry  on  the  work 
thus  far  performed  by  the  American  staff. 


302  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

ALLIES  STAND  TOGETHER 

Text  of  the  Allied  Agreement  to  Make  No  Separate 
Peace  with.  Germany 

The  Italian  Government  having  decided  to  accede  to 
the  declaration  between  the  British,  French  and  Russian 
Governments  signed  in  London  on  September  5,  1914, 
which  declaration  was  acceded  to  by  the  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment on  October  19,  1915,  the  undersigned,  duly 
authorized  thereto  by  their  respective  Governments,  de- 
clare as  follows : 

The  British,  French,  Italian,  Japanese  and  Russian 
Governments  mutually  engage  not  to  conclude  peace 
separately  during  the  present  war. 

The  five  Governments  agree  that  when  terms  of  peace 
come  to  be  discussed  no  one  of  the  Allies  will  demand 
conditions  of  peace  without  previous  agreement  with 
each  of  the  other  Allies. 

Done  at  London  this  30th  day  of  November,  1915. 

E.  GREY, 
PAUL  CAMBON, 
IMPERIALI, 
K.  INOUTE, 
BRENCKENDORFF. 

The  names  signed  are  those,  respectively,  of  the  British 
secretary  of  state  for  foreign  affairs  and  the  ambassadors 
of  the  Governments  named. 


HISTOEY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  3Q3 

ACT   OF  CONGRESS   PROVIDING   FOR 
THE    ' 'LIBERTY  LOAN" 

An  act  to  authorize  an  issue  of  bonds  to  meet  expendi- 
tures for  the  national  security  and  defense,  and,  for  the 
purpose  of  assisting  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  to 
extend  credit  to  foreign  governments,  and  for  other  pur- 
poses. 

Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assem- 
bled, That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  with  the  ap- 
proval of  the  President,  is  hereby  authorized  to  borrow, 
from  time  to  time,  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States  for 
the  purposes  of  this  Act,  and  to  meet  expenditures 
authorized  for  the  national  security  and  defense  and 
other  public  purposes  authorized  by  law  not  exceeding 
in  the  aggregate  $5,000,000.00,  exclusive  of  the  sums 
authorized  by  section  four  of  this  Act,  and  to  issue  there- 
for bonds  of  the  United  States. 

The  bonds  herein  authorized  shall  be  in  such  form  and 
subject  to  such  terms  and  conditions  of  issue,  conversion, 
redemption,  maturities,  payment,  and  rate  and  time  of 
payment  of  interest,  not  exceeding  three  and  one-half 
per  centum  per  annum,  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
may  prescribe.  The  principal  and  interest  thereof  shall 
be  payable  in  "United  States  gold  coin  of  the  present 
standard  of  value  and  shall  be  exempt,  both  as  to  prin- 
cipal and  interest,  from  all  taxation,  except  estate  or 
inheritance  taxes,  imposed  by  authority  of  the  United 
States,  or  its  possessions,  or  by  any  State  or  local  taxing 
authority;  but  such  bonds  shall  not  bear  the  circulation 
privilege. 

The  bonds  herein  authorized  shall  first  be  offered  Ft 


304  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

not  less  than  par  as  a  popular  loan,  under  such  regula- 
tions prescribed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  as 
will  give  all  citizens  of  the  United  States  an  equal  oppor- 
tunity to  participate  therein;  and  any  portion  of  the 
bonds  so  offered  and  not  subscribed  for  may  be  otherwise 
disposed  of  at  not  less  than  par  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury;  but  no  commissions  shall  be  allowed  or  paid 
on  any  bonds  issued  under  authority  of  this  Act. 

SEC.  2.  That  for  the  purpose  of  more  effectually  pro- 
viding for  the  national  security  and  defense  and  prose- 
cuting the  war  by  establishing  credits  in  the  United 
States  for  foreign  governments,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  with  the  approval  of  the  President,  is  hereby 
authorized,  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  to  purchase, 
at  par,  from  such  foreign  governments  then  engaged  in 
war  with  the  enemies  of  the  United  States,  their  obliga- 
tions hereafter  issued,  bearing  the  same  rate  of  interest 
and  containing  in  their  essentials  the  same  terms  and  con- 
ditions as  those  of  the  United  States  issued  under  au- 
thority of  this  Act;  to  enter  into  such  arrangements  as 
may  be  necessary  or  desirable  for  establishing  such 
credits  and  for  purchasing  such  obligations  of  foreign 
governments  and  for  the  subsequent  payment  thereof 
before  maturity,  but  such  arrangements  shall  provide 
that  if  any  of  the  bonds  of  the  United  States  issued  and 
used  for  the  purchase  of  such  foreign  obligations  shall 
thereafter  be  converted  into  other  bonds  of  the  United 
States  bearing  a  higher  rate  of  interest  than  three  and 
one-half  per  centum  per  annum  under  the  provisions  of 
section  five  of  this  Act,  then  and  in  that  event  the  obliga- 
tions of  such  foreign  governments  held  by  the  United 
States  shall  be,  by  such  foreign  governments,  converted 
in  like  manner  and  extent  into  obligations  bearing  the 


HISTORY -MAKING  DOCUMENTS  305 

same  rate  of  interest  as  the  bonds  of  the  United  States 
issued  under  the  provisions  of  section  five  of  this  Act. 
For  the  purposes  of  this  section  there  is  appropriated, 
out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise  appro- 
priated, the  sum  of  $3,000,000,000,  or  so  much  thereof 
as  may  be  necessary:  Provided,  That  the  authority 
granted  by  this  section  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  purchase  bonds  from  foreign  governments,  as  afore- 
said, shall  cease  upon  the  termination  of  the  war  between 
the  United  States  and  the  Imperial  German  Government. 

SEC.  3.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  under 
such  terms  and  conditions  as  he  may  prescribe,  is  hereby 
authorized  to  receive  on  or  before  maturity  payment  for 
any  obligations  of  such  foreign  governments  purchased 
on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  and  to  sell  at  not  less 
than  the  purchase  price  any  of  such  obligations  and  to 
apply  the  proceeds  thereof,  and  any  payments  made  by 
foreign  governments  on  account  of  their  said  obligations 
to  the  redemption  or  purchase  at  not  more  than  par  and 
accrued  interest  of  any  bonds  of  the  United  States  issued 
under  authority  of  this  Act;  and  if  such  bonds  are  not 
available  for  this  purpose  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
shall  redeem,  or  purchase  any  other  outstanding  interest- 
bearing  obligations  of  the  United  States  which  may  at 
such  time  be  subject  to  call  or  which  may  be  purchased  at 
not  more  than  par  and  accrued  interest. 

SEC.  4.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  his 
discretion,  is  hereby  authorized  to  issue  the  bonds  not 
already  issued  heretofore  authorized  by  section  thirty- 
nine  of  the  Act  approved  August  fifth,  nineteen  hundred 
and  nine,  entitled  "An  Act  to  provide  revenue,  equalize 
duties,  and  encourage  the  industries  of  the  United  States, 
and  for  other  purposes";  section  one  hundred  and 


306  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

twenty-four  of  the  Act  approved  June  third,  nineteen 
hundred  and  sixteen,  entitled  "An  Act  for  making  fur- 
ther and  more  effectual  provision  for  the  national  de- 
fense, and  for  other  purposes";  section  thirteen  of  the 
Act  of  September  seventh,  nineteen  hundred  and  sixteen, 
entitled  "An  Act  to  establish  a  United  States  shipping 
board  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging,  developing,  and 
creating  a  naval  auxiliary  and  a  naval  reserve  and  a  mer- 
chant marine  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  commerce 
of  the  United  States  with  its  Territories  and  possessions 
and  with  foreign  countries,  to  regulate  carriers  by  water 
engaged  in  the  foreign  and  interstate  commerce  of  the 
United  States,  and  for  other  purposes" ;  section  four  hun- 
dred of  the  Act  approved  March  third,  nineteen  hundred 
and  seventeen,  entitled  "An  Act  to  provide  increased 
revenue  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  increased  appro-, 
priations  for  the  Army  and  Navy  and  the  extensions  of 
fortifications,  and  for  other  purposes";  and  the  public 
resolution  approved  March  fourth,  nineteen  hundred  and 
seventeen,  entitled  "Joint  resolution  to  expedite  the  de- 
livery of  materials,  equipment,  and  munitions  and  to 
secure  more  expeditious  construction  of  ships,"  in  the 
manner  and  under  the  terms  and  conditions  prescribed 
in  section  one  of  this  Act. 

That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby  author- 
ized to  borrow  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States  from 
time  to  time,  in  addition  to  the  sum  authorized  in  section 
one  of  this  Act,  such  additional  amount,  not  exceeding 
$63,945,460  as  may  be  necessary  to  redeem  the  three  per 
cent  loan  of  nineteen  hundred  and  eight  to  nineteen  hun- 
dred and  eighteen,  maturing  August  first,  nineteen  hun- 
dred and  eighteen,  and  to  issue  therefor  bonds  of  the 
United  States  in  the  manner  and  under  the  terms  and 
conditions  prescribed  in  section  one  of  this  Act. 


HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  3Q7 

SEC.  5.  That  any  series  of  bonds  issued  under  author- 
ity of  sections  one  and  four  of  this  Act  may,  under  such 
terms  and  conditions  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
may  prescribe,  be  convertible  into  bonds  bearing  a  higher 
rate  of  interest  than  the  rate  at  which  the  same  were 
issued  if  any  subsequent  series  of  bonds  shall  be  issued  at 
a  higher  rate  of  interest  before  the  termination  of  the  war 
between  the  United  States  and  the  Imperial  German 
Government,  the  date  of  such  termination  to  be  fixed 
by  a  proclamation  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States. 

SEC.  6.  That  in  addition  to  the  bonds  authorized  by 
sections  one  and  four  of  this  Act,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  is  authorized  to  borrow  from  time  to  time,  on 
the  credit  of  the  United  States,  for  the  purposes  of  this 
Act  and  to  meet  public  expenditures  authorized  by  law, 
such  sum  or  sums  as,  in  his  judgment,  may  be  necessary, 
and  to  issue  therefor  certificates  of  indebtedness  at  not 
less  than  par  in  such  form  and  subject  to  such  terms 
and  conditions  and  at  such  rate  of  interest,  not  exceeding 
three  and  one-half  per  centum  per  annum,  as  he  may 
prescribe ;  and  each  certificate  so  issued  shall  be  payable, 
with  the  interest  accrued  thereon,  at  such  time,  not  ex- 
ceeding one  year  from  the  date  of  its  issue,  as  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  may  prescribe.  Certificates  of  in- 
debtedness herein  authorized  shall  not  bear  the  circula- 
tion privilege,  and  the  sum  of  such  certificates  outstand- 
ing shall  at  no  time  exceed  in  the  aggregate  $2,000,- 
000,000,  and  such  certificates  shall  be  exempt,  both  as  to 
principal  and  interest,  from  all  taxation,  except  estate  or 
inheritance  taxes,  imposed  by  authority  of  the  United 
States,  or  its  possessions,  or  by  any  State  or  local  taxing 
authority. 


308  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

SEC.  7.  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  his  dis- 
cretion, is  hereby  authorized  to  deposit  in  such  banks  and 
trust  companies  as  he  may  designate  the  proceeds,  or  any 
part  thereof,  arising  from  the  sale  of  the  bonds  and  cer- 
tificates of  indebtedness  authorized  by  this  Act,  or  the 
bonds  previously  authorized  as  described  in  section  four 
of  this  Act,  and  such  deposits  may  bear  such  rate  of  in- 
terest and  be  subject  to  such  terms  and  conditions  as  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may  prescribe :  Provided,  That 
the  amount  so  deposited  shall  not  in  any  case  exceed  the 
amount  withdrawn  from  any  such  bank  or  trust  company 
and  invested  in  such  bonds  or  certificates  of  indebtedness 
plus  the  amount  so  invested  by  such  bank  or  trust  com- 
pany, and  such  deposits  shall  be  secured  in  the  manner 
required  for  other  deposits  by  section  fifty-one  hundred 
and  fifty-three,  Revised  Statutes,  and  amendments 
thereto:  Provided  further,  That  the  provisions  of  sec- 
tion fifty-one  hundred  and  ninety-one  of  the  Revised 
Statutes,  as  amended  by  ther  Federal  Reserve  Act  and  the 
amendments  thereof,  with  reference  to  the  reserves  re- 
quired to  be  kept  by  national  banking  associations  and 
other  member  banks  of  the  Federal  Reserve  System,  shall 
not  apply  to  deposits  of  public  moneys  by  the  United 
States  in  designated  depositaries. 

SEC.  8.  That  in  order  to  pay  all  necessary  expenses, 
including  rent,  connected  with  any  operations  under  this 
Act,  a  sum  not  exceeding  one-tenth  of  one  per  centum 
of  the  amount  of  bonds  and  one-tenth  of  one  per  centum 
of  the  amount  of  certificates  of  indebtedness  herein  au- 
thorized is  hereby  appropriated,  or  as  much  tkereof  as 
may  be  necessary,  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury  not 
otherwise  appropriated,  to  be  expended  as  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  may  direct :  Provided,  That,  in  addition 


HISTOEY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  309 

to  the  reports  now  required  by  law,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  shall,  on  the  first  Monday  in  December,  nine- 
teen hundred  and  seventeen,  and  annually  thereafter, 
transmit  to  the  Congress  a  detailed  statement  of  all  ex- 
penditures under  this  Act. 

Approved,  April  24,  1917. 


PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  REMARKABLE 

NOTE  TO  RUSSIA  STATING  OUR 

WAR  AIMS 

In  view  of  the  approaching  visit  of  the  American  dele- 
gation to  Russia  to  express  the  deep  friendship  of  the 
American  people  for  the  people  of  Russia  and  to  discuss 
the  best  and  most  practical  means  of  cooperation  be- 
tween the  two  peoples  in  carrying  the  present  struggle 
for  the  freedom  of  all  peoples  to  a  successful  consumma- 
tion, it  seems  opportune  and  appropriate  that  I  should 
state  again  in  the  light  of  this  new  partnership  the 
objects  the  United  States  has  had  in  mind  in  entering 
the  war. 

Those  objects  have  been  very  much  beclouded  during 
the  last  few  weeks  by  mistaken  and  misleading  state- 
ments, and  the  issues  at  stake  are  too  momentous,  too 
tremendous,  too  significant  for  the  whole  human  race, 
to  permit  any  misinterpretations  or  misunderstandings, 
however  slight,  to  remain  uncorrected  fo.r  a  moment. 

The  war  has  begun  to  go  against  Germany,  and  in 
their  desperate  desire  to  escape  the  inevitable  ultimate 
defeat,  those  who  are  in  authority  in  Germany  are  using 
every  possible  instrumentality,  are  making  use  even  of 


310  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

the  influence  of  groups  and  parties  among  their  own 
subjects,  to  whom  they  have  never  been  just  or  fair  or 
even  tolerant,  to  promote  a  propaganda  on  both  sides 
of  the  sea  which  will  preserve  for  them  their  influence 
at  home  and  their  power  abroad,  to  the  undoing  of  the 
very  men  they  are  using. 

The  position  of  America  in  this  war  is  so  clearly 
avowed  that  no  man  can  be  excused  for  mistaking  it. 
America  seeks  no  material  profit  or  aggrandizement  of 
any  kind.  She  is  fighting  for  no  advantage  or  selfish 
object  of  her  own,  but  for  the  liberation  of  peoples 
everywhere  from  the  aggressions  of  autocratic  force. 

The  ruling  classes  in  Germany  have  begun  of  late  to 
profess  a  like  liberality  and  justice  of  purpose,  but  only 
to  preserve  the  power  they  have  set  up  in  Germany 
and  the  selfish  advantages  which  they  have  wrongly 
gained  for  themselves  and  their  private  projects  of 
power  all  the  way  from  Berlin  to  Bagdad  and  beyond. 

Government  after  government  has,  by  their  influence, 
without  open  conquest  of  its  territory,  been  linked  to- 
gether in  a  net  of  intrigue  directed  against  nothing 
less  than  the  peace  and  liberty  of  the  world.  The 
meshes  of  that  intrigue  must  be  broken,  but  cannot  be 
broken  unless  wrongs  already  done  are  undone,  and 
adequate  measures  must  be  taken  to  prevent  it  from 
ever  again  being  rewoven  or  repaired. 

Of  course,  the  imperial  German  government  and 
those  whom  it  is  using  for  their  own  undoing  are  seek- 
ing to  obtain  pledges  that  the  war  will  end  in  the  res- 
toration of  the  status  quo  ante.  It  was  the  status  quo 
ante  out  of  which  this  iniquitous  war  issued  forth,  the 
power  of  the  imperial  German  government  within  the 
empire  and  its  widespread  domination  and  influence 
outside  of  that  empire.  That  staius  must  be  altered  in 


HISTOEY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS  311 

such  fashion  as  to  prevent  any  such  hideous  thing  from 
ever  happening  again. 

We  are  fighting  for  the  liberty,  the  self-government, 
and  the  undictated  development  of  all  peoples,  and 
every  feature  of  the  settlement  that  concludes  this  war 
must  be  conceived  and  executed  for  that  purpose. 
Wrongs  must  first  be  righted  and  then  adequate  safe- 
guards must  be  created  to  prevent  their  being  com- 
mitted again.  We  ought  not  to  consider  remedies 
merely  because  they  have  a  pleasing  and  sonorous 
sound.  Practical  questions  can  be  settled  only  by 
practical  means.  Phrases  will  not  achieve  the  result. 
Effective  readjustments  will;  and  whatever  readjust- 
ments are  necessary  must  be  made. 

But  they  must  follow  a  principle,  and  that  principle 
is  plain.  No  people  must  be  forced  under  sovereignty 
under  which  it  does  not  wish  to  live.  No  territory  must 
change  hands  except  for  the  purpose  of  securing  those 
who  inhabit  it  a  fair  chance  of  life  and  liberty.  No 
indemnities  must  be  insisted  on  except  those  that  consti- 
tute payment  for  manifest  wrongs  done.  No  readjust- 
ments of  power  must  be  made  except  such  as  will  tend 
to  secure  the  future  peace  of  the  world  and  the  future 
welfare  and  happiness  of  its  peoples. 

And  then  the  freed  peoples  of  the  world  must  draw 
together  in  some  common  covenant,  some  genuine  and 
practical  cooperation  that  will  in  effect  combine  their 
force  to  secure  peace  and  justice  in  the  dealings  of 
nations  with  one  another.  The  brotherhood  of  mankind 
must  no  longer  be  a  fair  but  empty  phrase ;  it  must  be 
given  a  structure  of  force  and  reality.  The  nations  must 
realize  their  common  life  and  effect  a  workable  part- 
nership to  secure  that  life  against  the  aggressions  of 
autocratic  and  self -pleasing  power. 


312  HISTORY-MAKING  DOCUMENTS 

For  these  things  we  can  afford  to  pour  out  blood  and 
treasure.  For  these  are  the  things  we  have  always  pro- 
fessed to  desire,  and  unless  we  pour  out  blood  and  treas- 
ure now  and  succeed  we  may  never  be  able  to  unite  or 
show  conquering  force  again  in  the  great  cause  of  human 
liberty. 

The  day  has  come  to  conquer  or  submit.  If  the  forces 
of  autocracy  can  divide  us  they  will  overcome  us;  if  we 
stand  together  victory  is  certain,  and  the  liberty  which 
victory  will  secure.  We  can  afford  then  to  be  generous, 
but  we  cannot  afford  then  or  now  to  be  weak  or  omit  any 
single  guarantee  of  justice  and  security. 


M.  VIVIANI'S  SPEECH  TO  HOUSE  OP 
EEPRESENTATIVES 

Gentlemen,  once  more  my  fellow  countrymen  and  I  are 
admitted  to  the  honor  of  being  present  at  a  sitting  in  a 
legislative  Chamber.  May  I  be  permitted  to  express  our 
emotion  at  this  solemn  derogation  against  rules  more 
than  a  century  old,  and,  so  far  as  my  own  person  is  con- 
cerned, may  I  say  that,  as  a  member  of  Parliament,  accus- 
tomed for  20  years  to  the  passions  and  storms  which  sweep 
through  political  assemblies,  I  appreciate  more  than  any- 
one at  this  moment  the  supreme  joy  of  being  near  this 
chair,  which  is  in  such  a  commanding  position  that,  how- 
ever feeble  may  be  the  voice  that  speaks  thence,  it  is 
heard  over  the  whole  world. 

Gentlemen,  I  will  not  thank  you,  not  because  our  grati- 
tude fails,  but  because  new  words  to  express  it  fail.  No ; 
I  do  not  thank  you  for  your  welcome.  "We  have  all  felt, 
my  companions  and  myself,  that  the  manifestations  which 
rose  toward  our  persons  came  not  only  from  your  lips. 
We  have  felt  that  you  were  not  merely  fulfilling  the  obli- 
gations of  international  courtesy.  Suddenly,  in  all  its 
charming  intimacy,  the  complexity  of  the  American  soul 
was  revealed  to  us. 

When  one  meets  an  American  one  is  supposed  to  meet 
a  practical  man,  merely  a  practical  man,  caring  only  for 
business,  only  interested  in  business.  But  when  at  certain 
hours  in  private  life  one  studies  the  American  soul,  one 
discovers  at  the  same  time  how  fresh  and  delicate  it  is; 
and  when  at  certain  moments  of  public  life  one  considers 
the  soul  of  the  Nation,  then  one  sees  all  the  force  of  the 
ideals  that  rise  from  it ;  so  that  this  American  people,  in 
its  perfect  balance,  is  at  once  practical  and  sentimental, 

313 


314  M.  VIVIANI'S  SPEECH 

a  realizer  and  a  dreamer,  and  is  always  ready  to  place  its 
practical  qualities  at  the  disposal  of  its  puissant  thoughts. 

And  see,  gentlemen,  what  a  glorious  comparison,  to  our 
profit,  yours  also,  we  can  establish  between  our  enemies 
and  us.  Intrusted  with  a  mandate  from  a  free  people, 
we  came  among  free  men  to  compare  our  ideas,  to  ex- 
change our  views,  to  measure  the  whole  extent  of  the  prob- 
lems raised  by  this  war;  and  all  the  allied  nations,  simply 
because  they  repose  on  democratic  institutions,  through 
their  governments  meet  in  the  same  lofty  region  on  equal 
terms,  in  full  liberty. 

I  well  know  that  at  this  very  hour,  in  the  central 
empire,  there  is  an  absolute  monarch  who  binds  to  his 
will  by  vassal  links  of  steel  other  peoples.  It  has  been 
said  this  was  a  sign  of  strength;  it  is  only  a  derisive 
appearance  of  strength.  And  in  truth,  only  a  few  weeks 
ago,  on  the  eve  of  the  day  when  outraged  America  was 
about  to  rise  in  its  force,  on  the  morrow  of  the  day  when 
the  Russian  revolution,  faithful  to  its  alliance,  called  at 
once  its  soldiers  to  arms  and  its  people  to  independence, 
this  absolute  monarch  was  seen  to  totter  on  the  steps  of 
his  throne  as  he  felt  the  first  breath  of  the  tempest  pass 
over  his  crown.  And  he  bent  toward  his  people  in  humil- 
iation, and  in  order  to  win  its  sympathy  borrowed  from 
free  peoples  the  highest  institutions  and  promised  his 
subjects  universal  suffrage. 

Here,  as  in  the  crucial  hours  of  our  history  as  in  these 
of  yours,  it  is  liberty  which  clears  the  way  for  our  soldiers. 
"We  are  all  now  united  in  our  common  effort  for  civiliza- 
tion, for  right. 

The  day  before  yesterday,  in  a  public  meeting  at  which 
I  was  present,  I  heard  one  of  your  greatest  orators  say 
with  deep  emotion,  "It  has  been  sworn  on  the  tomb  of 
Washington."  And  then  I  understood  the  full  emotion 


M.  VIVIAN! 'S  SPEECH  315 

and  import  of  those  words.  If  Washington  could  rise 
from  his  tomb,  if  from  his  sacred  mound  he  could  view  the 
world  as  it  now  is,  shrunk  to  smaller  proportions  by  the 
lessening  of  material  and  moral  distances  and  the  min- 
gling of  every  kind  of  communication  between  men,  he 
would  feel  his  labors  are  not  yet  concluded,  and  that  just 
as  a  man  of  superior  and  powerful  mind  has  a  debt  to  all 
other  men,  so  a  superior  and  powerful  nation  owes  a  debt 
to  other  nations,  and  after  establishing  its  own  indepen- 
dence must  aid  others  to  maintain  their  independence  or 
to  conquer  it.  It  is  the  mysterious  logic  of  history  which 
President  Wilson  so  marvelously  understood,  thanks  to  a 
mind  as  vigorous  as  it  is  subtle,  as  capable  of  analysis  as  it 
is  of  synthesis,  of  minute  observation  followed  by  swift 
action.  It  has  been  sworn  on  the  tomb  of  Washington.  It 
has  been  sworn  on  the  tomb  of  our  allied  soldiers,  fallen 
in  a  sacred  cause.  It  has  been  sworn  by  the  bedside  of 
our  wounded  men.  It  has  been  sworn  on  the  heads  of 
our  orphan  children.  It  has  been  sworn  on  cradles  and 
on  tombs.  It  has  been  sworn. 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  TJDINE 

Mr.  Speaker  and  Members  of  the  House,  no  one  could 
appreciate  the  honor  of  your  invitation  more  than  myself 
and  my  colleagues. 

To  address  the  Representatives  of  the  greatest  among 
new  democracies  at  a  time  when  the  destinies  of  humanity 
are  awaiting  decision,  at  a  time  when  our  destiny  and 
yours  depend  on  the  issue  of  the  war,  to  bring  you  the 
greeting  of  distant  brothers  who  are  fighting  for  the  same 
ideals  at  the  foot  of  the  snowy  Alps  or  in  the  deadly 
trenches,  to  express  to  you  our  feelings  and  our  sympathy 
for  your  feelings — all  those  are  for  me  so  many  reasons 
for  legitimate  pride.  [Applause.] 

During  our  brief  stay  among  you  we  have  found 
everywhere  the  most  joyous  welcome  and  the  most 
friendly  cordiality.  Everywhere  it  was  not  only  friendly 
words  that  greeted  us  but  also  friendly  souls  who  wel- 
comed us. 

We  have  felt  deeply  moved  by  this. 

"We  know,  gentlemen,  that  such  cordial  sentiments, 
such  hearty  friendship,  are  meant  not  so  much  for  our 
persons  as  for  our  beautiful  and  distant  country;  our 
country,  of  which  every  foot  is  sacred  to  us  because  of 
its  century-old  greatness  and  sufferings  and  because  of 
the  noble  share  which  it  has  always  had  in  human  thought 
and  history.  [Applause.] 

But  your  great  Republic,  when  it  grants  us  such  cour- 
teous hospitality,  honors  still  more  that  which  at  the 
present  moment  is  dearest  to  us — the  efforts  of  Italy's 
soldiers,  the  noble  sacrifice  of  so  many  young  lives  freely 
given  for  their  country  and  for  civilization  and  in  defense 

316 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  TJDINE  317 

of  ideals  which  you  have  made  your  own  and  which  we 
all  love. 

In  the  name  of  the  soldiers  of  Italy,  one  of  whom  I  am 
proud  to  be ;  in  the  name  of  all  those  who  are  fighting  on 
the  mountains,  on  the  plains,  and  on  the  treacherous  seas ; 
in  the  name  of  those  to  whom  your  words  of  friendship 
have  brought  a  message  of  hope  and  faith  across  the 
ocean,  I  thank  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

The  aims  of  the  war  for  the  allied  nations  were  pointed 
out  by  President  Wilson  in  his  magnificent  message, 
which  will  not  only  remain  in  the  minds  of  our  descend- 
ants as  a  historic  event,  but  which  has  already  aroused, 
because  of  its  moral  force,  intense  admiration  among  all 
civilized  peoples.  We  shall  be  satisfied,  whatever  sacri- 
fices we  may  be  called  upon  to  make,  when  the  rights  of 
humanity  are  assured,  when  the  guaranties  of  peace  are 
effectual,  and  when  free  nations  are  able  to  work  for  their 
own  prosperity  and  elevation. 

President  Wilson  has  proclaimed  that  to  the  Americans 
right  is  more  precious  than  peace  and  that  the  people  of 
the  United  States  are  ready  to  shed  their  blood  in  defense 
of  these  principles  in  the  name  of  which  they  became  a 
nation. 

For  the  sake  of  the  same  principles  we  are  ready  to 
face  every  sacrifice  and  every  sorrow. 

We  are  fighting  a  terrible  war.  Our  enemies  were  long 
since  prepared  for  it,  while  we  were  content  to  live,  trust- 
ing in  peace,  and  only  sought  to  contribute  to  the  devel- 
opment of  our  people  and  to  the  progress  of  our  country, 
almost  unconscious  of  the  clouds  which  so  suddenly  grew 
dark  over  our  heads. 

We  came  into  the  war  when  we  realized  that  there  was 
no  room  for  neutrals  and  that  neutrality  was  neither 


318  ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  TIDINE 

possible  nor  desirable,  when  the  freedom  of  all  democratic 
nations  was  threatened  and  the  very  existence  of  free 
peoples  was  at  stake. 

Ever  since  that  day  we  have  not  hesitated  before  any 
danger  or  any  suffering.  Our  wide  fighting  front  pre- 
sents conditions  of  exceptional  difficulty.  The  enemy  is, 
or  has  been  until  now,  in  possesion  of  the  best  positions. 
He  has  dug  deep  trenches;  he  has  concealed  his  guns 
among  the  mountains.  We  are  even  compelled  to  fight  at 
altitudes  of  eight  and  ten  thousand  feet,  in  spots  where 
it  seemed  impossible  that  any  fighting  should  ever  take 
place.  We  are  alone  on  our  wide  and  treacherous  front, 
and  every  step  forward  that  we  take,  every  progress  that 
we  accomplish,  costs  us  great  efforts  and  many  lives.  The 
enthusiasm  of  our  soldiers  has  often  helped  them  among 
the  glaciers  of  the  Alps  and  the  many  snares  of  the  Carso 
to  triumph  over  difficulties  which  seemed  to  defy  eveiy 
human  effort.  But  the  deep  faith  which  burns  in  them 
kept  their  strength  alive.  [Applause.] 

We  must,  we  will,  triumph  over  other  difficulties  and 
other  insidious  devices. 

Nature,  which  gave  us  our  pure  skies,  our  mild  climate, 
has  denied  us  almost  entirely  the  two  great  necessities  of 
modern  industry — coal  and  iron.  Therefore,  with  indus- 
tries still  in  course  of  formation,  Italy  has  had  ever  since 
their  inception  to  overcome  obstacles  which  appeared 
insuperable.  Italy  occupies  one  of  the  first  places  in 
Europe  as  regards  the  number  and  power  of  her  water- 
falls ;  but  this  wealth,  which  constitutes  the  great  reserve 
of  the  future,  has  only  been  partly  exploited  until  now. 
The  treacherous  enemy,  who  has  long  since  prepared  the 
weapons  of  aggression,  not  having  obtained  victory  on 
the  field,  is  now  trying  by  means  of  submarine  warfare 
to  endanger  our  existence,  to  cause  a  scarcity  of  food,  and, 


ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  TJDINE  319 

above  all,  a  scarcity  of  the  coal  which  Italy  needs  for  her 
ammunition  factories,  for  her  railways,  and  for  her 
industries. 

We  have  reduced  our  consumption  of  all  necessities, 
and  we  are  ready  to  reduce  it  still  further  within  the  lim- 
its of  possibility.  We  do  not  complain  of  the  privations 
that  we  have  to  endure.  Wealth  itself  has  no  value  if  life 
and  liberty  are  endangered.  And  when  millions  of  sol- 
diers offer  their  young  lives  for  their  country  there  is  not 
one  among  the  civil  population  who  is  not  ready  to  make 
any  sacrifice. 

But  to  overcome  the  dangers  of  the  submarines,  which, 
in  defiance  of  every  law  of  humanity,  are  not  only  destroy- 
ing wealth  but  endangering  the  lives  of  peaceful  travelers, 
sinking  hospital  ships,  and  murdering  women  and  chil- 
dren, we  must  all  make  a  great  effort. 

We  must  unite  all  our  forces  to  oppose  the  strongest 
resistance  to  the  insidious  devices  of  the  enemy.  You 
possess  a  great  and  magnificent  industrial  organization. 
You,  more  than  anyone,  are  in  a  position  to  put  an  end 
to  the  enemy 's  barbarous  dream  and  to  create  with  your 
energy  much  more  than  he  can  destroy.  [Applause.] 

This  great  and  terrible  trial  can  only  make  us  better 
men.  They  who  know  how  to  offer  to  the  fatherland  their 
wealth  and  their  lives;  they  who  give  themselves  unto 
death  and,  more  than  themselves,  that  which  is  sweetest 
and  most  sacred,  their  children;  they  who  are  ready  to 
suffer  and  to  die ;  they  will  know  when  the  morrow  dawns 
how  to  contribute  to  civilization  new  elements  of  moral 
nobility  and  of  strength.  [Applause.] 

We  must  not  grieve  over  our  sorrows.  When  we  fight 
for  the  rights  of  humanity  we  are  conscious  that  we  are 
elevating  ourselves  morally. 

When  America  proclaimed  herself  one  with  us  a  great 


320  ADDRESS  OF  THE  PRINCE  OF  UDINE 

joy  ran  through  every  city  and  every  little  village  of 
Italy.  We  knew  the  full  value  of  your  cooperation,  and 
at  the  same  time  we  appreciated  the  nobility  of  your 
sentiments. 

The  families  of  3,000,000  Italians  who  dwelt  in  the 
United  States  under  the  protection  of  your  hospitable  and 
just  laws  felt  a  deep  sense  of  joy. 

Mr.  Speaker  and  Members  of  the  House,  the  words 
which  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Italy,  first  among  our 
soldiers,  wrote  to  your  President  expressed  his  feelings 
and  those  of  all  his  people. 

To-morrow  when  the  news  reaches  Italy  that  this  Con- 
gress, which  represents  the  will  of  the  American  Nation, 
has  desired  to  give  to  our  mission  the  supreme  honor  of 
welcoming  it  in  its  midst  your  friendly  words  will  reach 
the  farthermost  points  where  men  are  fighting  and  suffer- 
ing. And  in  the  trenches,  at  the  foot  of  the  majestic  Alps, 
there  where  the  struggle  is  bitterest  and  where  death  is 
ever  present,  a  thrill  of  joy  and  of  hope  will  be  felt — the 
joy  of  a  sincere  union,  the  hope  of  certain  victory.  [Pro- 
longed applause  and  cheers.] 


REMARKS  OF 
RIGHT  HON.  ARTHUR  J.  BALFOUR 

Mr.  BALFOUR.  Mr.  Speaker,  ladies  and  gentlemen  of 
the  House  of  Representatives,  will  you  permit  me,  on 
behalf  of  my  friends  and  myself,  to  offer  you  my  deepest 
and  sincerest  thanks  for  the  rare  and  valued  honor  which 
you  have  done  us  by  receiving  us  here  to-day?  "We  all 
feel  the  greatness  of  this  honor,  but  I  think  to  none  of  us 
can  it  come  home  so  closely  as  to  one  who,  like  myself, 
has  been  for  43  years  in  the  service  of  a  free  assembly  like 
your  own.  I  rejoice  to  think  that  a  member — a  very  old 
member,  I  am  sorry  to  say — of  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons has  been  received  here  to-day  by  this  great  sister 
assembly  with  such  kindness  as  you  have  shown  to  me 
and  to  my  friends.  [Applause.] 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  these  two  assemblies  are  the 
greatest  and  the  oldest  of  the  free  assemblies  now  govern- 
ing great  nations  in  the  world.  The  history  indeed  of  the 
two  is  very  different.  The  beginnings  of  the  British  House 
of  Commons  go  back  to  a  dim  historic  past,  and  its  full 
rights  and  status  have  only  been  conquered  and  perma- 
nently secured  after  centuries  of  political  struggle.  Your 
fate  has  been  a  happier  one.  You  were  called  into  exist- 
ence at  a  much  later  stage  of  social  development.  You 
came  into  being  complete  and  perfected  and  all  your  pow- 
ers determined,  and  your  place  in  the  Constitution  se- 
cured beyond  chance  of  revolution;  but,  though  the  his- 
tory of  these  two  great  assemblies  is  different,  each  of 
them  represents  the  great  democratic  principle  to  which 
we  look  forward  as  the  security  for  the  future  peace  of 
the  world.  [Applause.]  All  of  the  free  assemblies  now 
to  be  found  governing  the  great  nations  of  the  earth 

321 


322         EEMARKS  OF  BIGHT  HON.  A.  J.  BALFOUR 

have  been  modeled  either  upon  your  practice  or  upon 
ours,  or  upon  both  combined. 

Mr.  Speaker,  the  compliment  paid  to  the  mission  from 
Great  Britain  by  such  an  assembly  and  upon  such  an  occa- 
sion is  one  not  one  of  us  is  ever  likely  to  forget,  but  there 
is  something,  after  all,  even  deeper  and  more  significant 
in  the  circumstances  under  which  I  now  have  the  honor 
to  address  you,  than  any  which  arise  out  of  the  inter- 
change of  courtesies,  however  sincere,  between  two  great 
and  friendly  nations.  "We  all,  I  think,  feel  instinctively 
that  this  is  one  of  the  great  moments  in  the  history  of  the 
world  and  that  what  is  now  happening  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic  represents  the  drawing  together  of  great  and 
free  peoples  for  mutual  protection  against  the  aggression 
of  military  despotism.  [Prolonged  applause  and  cheers.] 

I  am  not  one  of  those  and  none  of  you  are  among  those 
who  are  such  bad  democrats  as  to  say  that  democracies 
make  no  mistakes.  All  free  assemblies  have  made  blun- 
ders ;  sometimes  they  have  committed  crimes.  Why  is  it, 
then,  that  we  look  forward  to  the  spread  of  free  institu- 
tions throughout  the  world,  and  especially  among  our 
present  enemies,  as  one  of  the  greatest  guaranties  of  the 
future  peace  of  the  world?  I  will  tell  you,  gentlemen, 
how  it  seems  to  me.  It  is  quite  true  that  the  people  and 
the  representatives  of  the  people  may  be  betrayed  by  some 
momentary  gust  of  passion  into  a  policy  which  they  u\ti- 
mately  deplore,  but  it  is  only  a  military  despotism  of  the 
German  type  which  can,  through  generations  if  need  be, 
pursue  steadily,  remorselessly,  unscrupulously,  the  ap- 
palling object  of  dominating  the  civilization  of  mankind. 
[Applause.]  And  mark  you,  this  evil,  this  menace  under 
which  we  are  now  suffering,  is  not  one  which  diminishes 
with  the  growth  of  knowledge  and  the  progress  of  mate- 
rial civilization,  but  on  the  contrary  it  increases  with 


EEMABKS  OP  EIGHT  HON.  A.  J.  BALFOUR        323 

them.  When  I  was  young  we  used  to  flatter  ourselves 
that  progress  inevitably  meant  peace,  and  that  growth 
of  knowledge  was  always  accompanied,  as  its  natural 
fruit,  by  the  growth  of  good  will  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth.  Unhappily  we  know  better  now,  and  we  know 
there  is  such  a  thing  in  the  world  as  a  power  which  can 
with  unvarying  persistency  focus  all  the  resources  of 
knowledge  and  of  civilization  into  the  one  great  task  of 
making  itself  the  moral  and  material  master  of  the  world. 
It  is  against  that  danger  that  we,  the  free  peoples  of 
western  civilization,  have  banded  ourselves  together. 
[Applause.]  It  is  in  that  great  cause  that  we  are  going 
to  fight  and  are  now  fighting  this  very  moment  side  bj 
side.  [Applause.]  In  that  cause  we  shall  surely  con- 
quer [applause],  and  our  children  will  look  back  to  this 
fateful  date  as  the  one  day  from  which  democracies  can 
feel  secure  that  their  progress,  their  civilization,  their 
rivalry,  if  need  be,  will  be  conducted,  not  on  German 
lines,  but  in  that  friendly  and  Christian  spirit  which 
really  befits  the  age  in  which  we  live. 

Mr.  Speaker,  ladies,  and  gentlemen,  I  beg  most  sin- 
cerely to  repeat  again  how  heartily  I  thank  you  for  the 
cordial  welcome  which  you  have  given  us  to-day,  and  to 
repeat  my  profound  sense  of  the  significance  of  this 
unique  meeting.  [Great  applause.] 

The  members  of  the  English  commission  took  their 
places  at  the  right  of  the  Speaker's  rostrum  and  the 
Members  of  the  House  were  presented  to  them,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  accompanying  the  Members. 

The  distinguished  visitors  were  then  escorted  from 
the  Hall  of  the  House. 


324  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 


To  His  Holiness,  Benedictus  XV.,  Pope. 

In  acknowledgment  of  the  communication  of  your 
holiness  to  the  belligerent  peoples,  dated  Aug.  1,  1917, 
the  President  of  the  United  States  requests  me  to  trans- 
mit the  following  reply : 

Every  heart  that  has  not  been  blinded  and  hardened 
by  this  terrible  war  must  be  touched  by  this  moving 
appeal  of  his  holiness  the  pope,  must  feel  the  dignity 
and  force  of  the  humane  and  generous  motives  which 
prompted  it,  and  must  fervently  wish  that  we  might 
take  the  path  of  peace  he  so  persuasively  points  out. 

But  it  would  be  folly  to  take  it  if  it  does  not,  in  fact, 
lead  to  the  goal  he  proposes.  Our  response  must  be 
based  upon  the  stern  facts  and  upon  nothing  else. 

It  is  not  a  mere  cessation  of  arms  he  desires;  it  is  a 
stable  and  enduring  peace.  This  agony  must  not  be 
gone  through  with  again,  and  it  must  be  a  matter  of 
very  sober  judgment  what  will  insure  us  against  it. 

His  holiness  in  substance  proposes  that  we  return  to 
the  status  quo  ante  bellum,  and  that  then  there  be  a 
general  condonation,  disarmament,  and  a  concert  of 
nations,  based  upon  an  acceptance  of  the  principle  of 
arbitration;  that  by  a  similar  concert  freedom  of  the 
seas  be  established;  and  that  the  territorial  claims  of 
France  and  Italy,  the  perplexing  problems  of  the  Bal- 
kan states,  and  the  restitution  of  Poland  be  left  to 
such  conciliatory  adjustments  as  may  be  possible  in 
the  new  temper  of  such  a  peace,  due  regard  being  paid 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  325 

to  the  aspirations  of  the  peoples  whose  political  fortunes 
and  affiliations  will  be  involved. 

It  is  manifest  that  no  part  of  this  program  can  be 
successfully  carried  out  unless  the  restitution  of  the 
status  quo  ante  furnishes  a  firm  and  satisfactory  basis 
for  it. 

The  object  of  this  war  is  to  deliver  the  free  peoples 
of  the  world  from  the  menace  and  the  actual  power  of 
a  vast  military  establishment,  controlled  by  an  irrespon- 
sible government  which,  having  secretly  planned  to 
dominate  the  world,  proceeded  to  carry  the  plan  out 
without  regard  either  to  the  sacred  obligations  of  treaty 
or  the  long  established  practices  and  long  cherished 
principles  of  international  action  and  honor;  which 
chose  its  own  time  for  the  war;  delivered  its  blow 
fiercely  and  suddenly;  stopped  at  no  barrier  either  of 
law  or  of  mercy ;  swept  a  whole  continent  within  the  tide 
of  blood — not  the  blood  of  soldiers  only,  but  the  blood 
of  innocent  women  and  children  also,  and  of  the  help- 
less poor ;  and  now  stands  balked  but  not  defeated,  the 
enemy  of  four-fifths  of  the  world. 

This  power  is  not  the  German  people.  It  is  the  ruth- 
less master  of  the  German  people.  It  is  no  business 
of  ours  how  that  great  people  came  under  its  control 
or  submitted  with  temporary  zest  to  the  domination  of 
its  purpose ;  but  it  is  our  business  to  see  to  it  that  the 
history  of  the  rest  of  the  world  is  no  longer  left  to  its 
handling. 

To  deal  with  such  a  power  by  way  of  peace  upon  the 
plan  proposed  by  his  holiness  the  pope  would,  so  far  as 
we  can  see,  involve  a  recuperation  of  its  strength  and  a 
renewal  of  its  policy ;  would  make  it  necessary  to  create 
a  permanent  hostile  combination  of  nations  against  the 
German  people,  who  are  its  instruments;  and  would 


326  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

result  in  abandoning  the  new-born  Russia  to  the  in- 
trigue, the  manifold  subtle  interference,  and  the  certain 
counter  revolution  which  would  be  attempted  by  all  the 
malign  influence  to  which  the  German  government  has 
of  late  accustomed  the  world. 

Can  peace  be  based  upon  a  restitution  of  its  power 
or  upon  any  word  of  honor  it  could  pledge  in  a  treaty 
of  settlement  and  accommodation  ? 

Responsible  statesmen  must  now  everywhere  see,  if 
they  never  saw  before,  that  no  peace  can  rest  securely 
upon  political  or  economic  restrictions  meant  to  benefit 
some  nations  and  cripple  or  embarrass  others,  upon 
vindictive  action  of  any  sort,  or  any  kind  of  revenge 
or  deliberate  injury. 

The  American  people  have  suffered  intolerable  wrongs 
at  the  hands  of  the  imperial  German  government,  but 
they  desire  no  reprisal  upon  the  German  people,  who 
have  themselves  suffered  all  things  in  this  war,  which 
they  did  not  choose.  They  believe  that  peace  should 
rest  upon  the  rights  of  peoples,  not  the  rights  of  gov- 
ernments— the  rights  of  peoples  great  or  small,  weak 
or  powerful — their  EQUAL  right  to  freedom  and  secur- 
ity and  self-government,  and  to  a  participation  upon 
fair  terms  in  the  economic  opportunities  of  the  world — 
the  German  people,  of  course,  included,  if  they  will 
accept  equality  and  not  seek  domination. 

The  test,  therefore,  of  every  plan  of  peace  is  this: 
Is  it  based  upon  the  faith  of  all  the  peoples  involved 
or  merely  upon  the  word  of  an  ambitious  and  intriguing 
government,  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  a  group  of  free 
peoples  on  the  other?  This  is  a  test  which  goes  to  the 
root  of  the  matter,  and  it  is  the  test  which  must  be 
applied. 

The  purposes  of  the  United  States  in  this  war  are 


GREAT  SPEECHES  327 

known  to  the  whole  world — to  every  people  to  whom 
the  truth  has  been  permitted  to  come.  They  do  not 
need  to  be  stated  again.  We  seek  no  material  ad- 
vantage of  any  kind.  We  believe  that  the  intolerable 
wrongs  done  in  this  war  by  the  furious  and  brutal  power 
of  the  imperial  German  government  ought  to  be  re- 
paired, but  not  at  the  expense  of  the  sovereignty  of 
any  people — rather  a  vindication  of  the  sovereignty 
both  of  those  that  are  weak  and  those  that  are  strong. 

Punitive  damages,  the  dismemberment  of  empires, 
the  establishment  of  selfish  and  exclusive  economic 
leagues,  we  deem  inexpedient  and  in  the  end  worse  than 
futile,  no  proper  basis  for  a  peace  of  any  kind,  least 
of  all  for  an  enduring  peace.  That  must  be  based  upon 
justice  and  fairness  and  the  common  rights  of  mankind. 

We  cannot  take  the  word  of  the  present  rulers  of 
Germany  as  a  guarantee  of  anything  that  is  to  endure, 
unless  explicitly  supported  by  such  conclusive  evidence 
of  the  will  and  purpose  of  the  German  people  them- 
selves as  the  other  peoples  of  the  world  would  be  justi- 
fied in  accepting.  Without  such  guarantees,  treaties  of 
settlement,  agreements  for  disarmament,  covenants  to 
set  up  arbitration  in  the  place  of  force,  territorial  ad- 
justments, reconstitutions  of  small  nations,  if  made  with 
the  German  government,  no  man,  no  nation  could  now 
depend  on.  We  must  await  some  new  evidence  of  the 
purposes  of  the  great  peoples  of  the  central  powers. 
God  grant  it  may  be  given  soon  and  in  a  way  to  restore 
the  confidence  of  all  peoples  everywhere  in  the  faith 
of  nations  and  the  possibility  of  a  covenanted  peace. 

ROBERT  LANSING. 
Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  of  America. 


328  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

PRESIDENT    WILSON'S    ADDRESS  .TO 

THE  ANNUAL  CONVENTION  OF  THE 

AMERICAN  FEDERATION  OF 

LABOR  AT  BUFFALO,  N.  Y., 

NOVEMBER  12,  1917 

"Mr.  President,  Delegates  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  esteem  it  a 
great  privilege  and  real  honor  to  be  thus  admitted  to 
your  public  councils.  When  your  executive  committee 
paid  me  the  compliment  of  inviting  me  here  I  gladly 
accepted  the  invitation,  because,  it  seems  to  me  that 
this,  above  all  other  times  in  our  history,  is  the  time  for 
common  counsel  for  the  drawing  not  only  of  the  ener- 
gies but  of  the  minds  of  the  nation  together.  I  thought 
that  it  was  a  welcome  opportunity  for  disclosing  to  you 
some  of  the  thoughts  that  have  been  gathering  in  my 
mind  during  the  last  momentous  months. 

"I  am  introduced  to  you  as  the  president  of  the 
United  States,  and  yet  I  would  be  pleased  if  you  would 
put  the  thought  of  the  office  into  the  background  and 
regard  me  as  one  of  your  fellow  citizens  who  has  come 
here  to  speak,  not  the  words  of  authority,  but  words  of 
counsel,  the  words  which  men  should  speak  to  one  an- 
other who  wish  to  be  frank  in  a  moment  more  critical 
perhaps  than  the  history  of  the  world  has  ever  yet 
known;  a  moment  when  it  is  every  man's  duty  to  for- 
get himself,  to  forget  his  own  interests,  to  fill  himself 
with  the  nobility  of  a  great  national  and  world  concep- 
tion and  act  upon  a  new  platform  elevated  above  the 
ordinary  affairs  of  life,  elevated  to  where  men  have  views 
of  the  long  destiny  of  mankind. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  329 

Tells  How  War  Was  Started 

"I  think  that  in  order  to  realize  just  what  this  mo- 
ment of  counsel  is,  it  is  very  desirable  that  we  should 
remind  ourselves  just  how  this  war  came  about  and 
just  what  it  is  for.  You  can  explain  most  wars  very 
simply,  but  the  explanation  of  this  is  not  so  simple. 
Its  roots  run  deep  into  all  the  obscure  soils  of  history 
and  in  my  view  this  is  the  last  decisive  issue  between  the 
old  principles  of  power  and  the  new  principles  of  free- 
dom. 

"The  war  was  started  by  Germany.  Her  authorities 
deny  that  they  started  it.  But  I  am  willing  to  let  the 
statement  I  have  just  made  await  the  verdict  of  history. 
And  the  thing  that  needs  to  be  explained  is  why  Ger- 
many started  the  war.  Remember  what  the  position  of 
Germany  in  the  world  was — as  enviable  a  position  as 
any  nation  has  ever  occupied.  The  whole  world  stood 
at  admiration  of  her  wonderful  intellectual  and  mate- 
rial achievements  and  all  the  intellectual  men  of  the 
world  went  to  school  to  her.  As  a  university  man  I 
have  been  surrounded  by  men  trained  in  Germany,  men 
who  had  resorted  to  Germany  because  nowhere  else 
could  they  get  such  thorough  and  searching  training, 
particularly  in  the  principles  of  science  and  the  princi- 
ples that  underly  modern  material  achievements. 

"Her  men  of  science  had  made  her  industries  perhaps 
the  most  competent  industries  in  the  world  and  the 
label  'made  in  Germany'  was  a  guaranty  of  good  work- 
manship and  of  sound  material.  She  had  access  to  all 
the  markets  of  the  world,  and  every  other  man  who 
traded  in  those  markets  feared  Germany  because  of  her 
effective  and  almost  irresistible  competition.  She  had 
a  place  in  the  sun.  Why  was  she  not  satisfied  ?  What 


330  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

more  did  she  want?  There  was  nothing  in  the  world 
of  peace  that  she  did  not  already  have  and  have  in 
abundance. 

"We  boast  of  the  extraordinary  pace  of  American 
advancement.  We  show  with  pride  the  statistics  of  the 
increase  of  our  industries  and  of  the  population  of  our 
cities.  Well,  those  statistics  did  not  match  the  recent 
statistics  of  Germany.  Her  old  cities  took  on  youth, 
grew  faster  than  any  American  city  ever  grew ;  her  old 
industries  opened  their  eyes  and  saw  a  new  world  and 
went  out  for  its  conquest;  and  yet  the  authorities  of 
Germany  were  not  satisfied.  You  have  one  part  of  the 
answer  to  the  question  why  she  was  not  satisfied  in  her 
methods  of  competition.  There  is  no  important  indus- 
try in  Germany  upon  which  the  government  has  not  laid 
its  hands  to  direct  it  and,  when  necessity  arises,  con- 
trol it. 

Unfair  Competition  in  Germany 

"You  have  only  to  ask  any  man  whom  you  meet  who 
is  familiar  with  the  conditions  that  prevailed  before 
the  war  in  the  matter  of  international  competition  to 
find  out  the  methods  of  competition  which  the  German 
manufacturers  and  exporters  used  under  the  patronage 
and  support  of  the  government  of  Germany.  You  will 
find  that  they  were  the  same  sorts  of  competition  that 
we  have  tried  to  prevent  by  law  within  our  own  borders. 
If  they  could  not  sell  their  goods  cheaper  than  we  could 
sell  ours  at  a  profit  to  themselves  they  could  get  a  sub- 
sidy from  the  government  which  made  it  possible  to 
sell  them  cheaper  anyhow ;  and  the  conditions  of  compe- 
tition were  thus  controlled  in  large  measure  by  the 
German  government  itself.  But  that  did  not  satisfy 
the  German  government. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  331 

"All  the  while  there  was  lying  behind  its  thought, 
in  its  dreams  of  the  future,  a  political  control  which 
would  enable  it  in  the  long  run  to  dominate  the  labor 
and  the  industry  of  the  world.  They  were  not  con- 
tent with  success  by  superior  achievement ;  they  wanted 
success  by  authority. 

' '  I  suppose  very  few  of  you  have  thought  much  about 
the  Berlin-to-Bagdad  railway.  The  Berlin-to-Bagdad 
railway  was  constructed  in  order  to  run  the  threat  of 
force  down  the  flank  of  the  industrial  undertakings  of 
half  a  dozen  other  countries,  so  that  when  German 
competition  came  in  it  would  not  be  resisted  too  far — 
because  there  was  always  the  possibility  of  getting 
German  armies  into  the  heart  of  that  country  quicker 
than  any  other  armies  could  be  got  there. 

Thrusting  Peace  Before  World 

"Look  at  the  map  of  Europe  now.  Germany,  in 
thrusting  upon  us  again  and  again  the  discussion  of 
peace,  talks  about  what — talks  about  Belgium,  talks 
about  northern  France,  talks  about  Alsace-Lorraina 
Well,  those  are  deeply  interesting  subjects  to  us  and 
to  them,  but  they  are  not  talking  about  the  heart  of 
the  matter. 

Shows  How  Map  Is  Changed 

"Take  the  map  and  look  at  it.  Germany  has  abso- 
lute control  of  Austria-Hungary,  practical  control  of  the 
Balkan  states,  control  of  Turkey,  control  of  Asia  Minor. 
I  saw  a  map  in  which  the  whole  thing  was  printed  in 
appropriate  black  the  other  day  and  the  black  stretched 
all  the  way  from  Hamburg  to  Bagdad — the  bulk  of 
German  power  inserted  into  the  heart  of  the  world. 


332  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

If  it  can  keep  that  she  has  kept  all  that  her  dreams 
contemplated  when  the  war  began.  If  she  can  keep 
that  her  power  can  disturb  the  world  as  long  as  she 
keeps  it — always  provided,  for  I  feel  bound  to  put  this 
proviso  in — always  provided  the  present  influences  that 
control  the  German  government  continue  to  control  it. 
"I  believe  that  the  spirit  of  freedom  can  get  into 
the  hearts  of  Germans  and  find  as  fine  a  welcome  there 
as  it  can  find  in  any  other  hearts.  But  the  spirit  of 
freedom  does  not  suit  the  plans  of  the  pan-Germans. 
Power  cannot  be  used  with  concentrated  force  against 
free  peoples  if  it  is  used  by  free  people. 

Hint  of  Desire  for  Peace 

"You  know  how  many  intimations  come  to  us  from 
one  of  the  central  powers  that  it  is  more  anxious  for 
peace  than  the  chief  central  power;  and  you  know 
that  it  means  that  the  people  in  that  central  power 
know  that  if  the  war  ends  as  it  stands  they  will  in 
effect  themselves  be  vassals  of  Germany,  notwithstand- 
ing that  their  populations  are  compounded  with  all 
the  people  of  that  part  of  the  world,  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  they  do  not  wish  in  their  pride  and 
proper  spirit  of  nationality  to  be  so  absorbed  and  dom- 
inated. 

"Germany  is  determined  that  the  political  power 
of  the  world  shall  belong  to  her.  There  have  been  such 
ambitions  before.  They  have  been  in  part  realized. 
But  never  before  have  those  ambitions  been  based  upon 
so  exact  and  precise  and  scientific  a  plan  of  domination. 

"May  I  not  say  that  it  is  amazing  to  me  that  any 
group  of  people  should  be  so  ill  informed  as  to  suppose, 
as  some  groups  in  Russia  apparently  suppose,  that  any 
reforms  planned  in  the  interest  of  the  people  can  live 


GREAT  SPEECHES  333 

in  the  presence  of  a  Germany  powerful  enough  to  under- 
mine or  overthrow  them  by  intrigue  or  force.  Any 
body  of  free  men  that  compounds  with  the  present 
German  government  is  compounding  for  its  own  de- 
struction. But  that  is  not  the  whole  of  the  story.  Any 
man  in  America,  or  anywhere  else,  who  supposes  that 
the  free  industry  and  enterprise  of  the  world  can  con- 
tinue if  the  pan-German  plan  is  achieved  and  German 
power  fastened  upon  the  world,  is  as  fatuous  as  the 
dreamers  of  Russia. 

See  Pacifists  as  Stupid 

"What  I  am  opposed  to  is  not  the  feeling  of  the 
pacifists,  but  their  stupidity.  My  heart  is  with  them, 
but  my  mind  has  a  contempt  for  them.  I  want  peace, 
but  I  know  how  to  get  it,  and  they  do  not. 

Tells  of  House's  Mission  to  Europe 

"You  will  notice  that  I  sent  a  friend  of  mine,  Col. 
House,  to  Europe,  who  is  as  great  a  lover  of  peace 
as  any  man  in  the  world,  but  I  did  not  send  him  on  a 
peace  mission ;  I  sent  him  to  take  part  in  a  conference 
as  to  how  the  war  was  to  be  won,  and  he  knows,  as  I 
know,  that  that  is  the  way  to  get  peace,  if  you  want  it 
for  more  than  a  few  minutes. 

"All  of  this  is  a  preface  to  the  conference  that  I 
referred  to  with  regard  to  what  we  are  going  to  do.  If 
we  are  true  friends  of  freedom — our  own  or  anybody 
else's — we  will  see  that  the  power  of  this  country  and 
the  productivity  of  this  country  is  raised  to  its  abso- 
lute maximum  and  that  absolutely  nobody  is  allowed 
to  stand  in  the  way  of  it. 

"When  I  say  that  nobody  is  allowed  to  stand  in  the 


334  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

way  I  don't  mean  that  they  shall  be  prevented  by  the 
power  of  the  government,  but  by  the  power  of  the 
American  spirit.  Our  duty,  if  we  are  to  do  this  great 
thing  and  show  America  to  be  what  we  believe  her  to 
be,  the  greatest  hope  and  energy  of  the  world,  then 
must  we  be  prepared  to  stand  together  night  and  day 
until  the  job  is  finished. 

Says  Labor  Must  Be  Free 

""While  we  are  fighting  for  freedom  we  must  see, 
among  other  things,  that  labor  is  free ;  and  that  means 
a  number  of  interesting  things.  It  means  not  only 
that  we  must  do  what  we  have  declared  our  purpose  to 
do,  see  that  the  conditions  of  labor  are  not  rendered 
more  onerous  by  the  war — but  also  that  we  shall  see 
to  it  that  the  instrumentalities  by  which  the  conditions 
of  labor  are  improved  are  not  blocked  or  checked.  That 
we  must  do.  That  has  been  the  matter  about  which  I 
have  taken  pleasure  in  conferring  from  time  to  time 
with  your  president,  Mr.  Gompers.  And  if  I  may  be 
permitted  to  do  so,  I  want  to  express  my  admiration  of 
his  patriotic  courage,  his  large  vision  and  his  statesman- 
like sense  of  what  is  to  be  done.  I  like  to  lay  my  mind 
alongside  of  a  mind  that  knows  how  to  pull  in  harness. 
The  horses  that  kick  over  the  traces  will  have  to  be  put 
in  a  corral. 

"Now  to  'stand  the  ground'  means  that  nobody  must 
interrupt  the  processes  of  our  energy,  if  the  interrup- 
tion can  possibly  be  avoided  without  the  absolute  inva- 
sion of  freedom.  To  put  it  concretely,  that  means  this : 
Nobody  has  a  right  to  stop  the  processes  of  labor  until 
all  the  methods  of  conciliation  and  settlement  have  been 
exhausted,  and  I  might  as  well  say  right  here  that  I 
am  not  talking  to  you  alone.  You  sometimes  stop  tht 


GREAT  SPEECHES  335 

courses  of  labor,  but  there  are  others  who  do  the  same. 
And  I  believe  that  I  am  speaking  of  my  own  experience 
not  only  but  of  the  experience  of  others,  when  I  say 
that  you  are  reasonable  in  a  larger  number  of  cases  than 
the  capitalists." 

Would  Export  All  Critics 

' '  I  am  not  saying  these  things  to  them  personally  yet, 
because  I  haven't  had  a  chance,  but  they  have  to  be 
said,  not  in  any  spirit  of  criticism,  because  I  would  like 
to  see  all  the  critics  exported.  But  in  order  to  clean 
the  atmosphere  and  come  down  to  business  everybody 
on  both  sides  has  got  to  transact  business  and  the  set- 
tlement is  never  impossible  when  both  sides  want  to  do 
the  square  and  right  things.  Moreover,  a  settlement 
is  always  hard  to  avoid  when  the  parties  can  be  brought 
face  to  face. 

4 'I  can  differ  with  a  man  much  more  radically  when 
he  isn't  in  the  room  than  I  can  when  he  is  in  the  room, 
because  then  the  awkward  thing  is  that  he  can  come 
back  at  me  and  answer  what  I  say.  It  is  always  dan- 
gerous for  a  man  to  have  the  floor  entirely  to  himself. 
And  therefore  we  must  insist  in  every  instance  that  the 
parties  come  into  each  other's  presence  and  there  dis- 
cuss the  issues  between  them  and  not  separately  in 
places  which  have  no  communication  with  each  other. 

"I  always  like  to  remind  myself  of  a  delightful  say- 
ing of  an  Englishman  of  a  past  generation,  Charles 
Lamb.  He  was  with  a  group  of  friends  and  he  spoke 
very  harshly  of  some  man  who  was  not  present.  I 
ought  to  say  that  Lamb  stuttered  a  little  and  one  of  his 
friends  said:  'Why,  Charles,  I  didn't  know  that  you 
knew  so  and  so*' 

*'  'Oh,'  he  said,  'I  don't.    I  can't  hate  a  man  I  know.' 


336  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

Hard  to  Hate  a  Man  You  Enow 

' '  There  is  a  great  deal  of  human  nature,  of  very  pleas- 
ant human  nature,  in  that  saying.  It  is  hard  to  hate  a 
man  you  know.  I  must  admit  parenthetically  that  there 
are  some  politicians  whose  methods  I  do  not  at  all  be- 
lieve in,  but  they  are  jolly  good  fellows,  and  if  they  only 
would  not  talk  the  wrong  kind  of  politics  with  me  I 
would  love  to  be  with  them.  And  so  it  is  all  along  the 
line  in  serious  matters  and  things  less  serious.  We  are 
all  of  the  same  clay  and  spirit  and  we  can  get  together 
if  we  desire  to  get  together.  Therefore  my  counsel  to 
you  is  this : 

"Let  us  show  ourselves  Americans  by  showing  that 
we  do  not  want  to  go  off  in  separate  camps  or  groups 
by  ourselves,  but  that  we  want  to  co-operate  with  all 
other  classes  and  all  other  groups  in  a  common  enter- 
prise which  is  to  release  the  spirits  of  the  world  from 
bondage. 

"I  would  be  willing  to  set  that  up  as  the  final  test 
of  an  American.  That  is  the  meaning  of  democracy. 
I  have  been  very  much  distressed,  my  fellow  citizens,  by 
some  of  the  things  that  have  happened  recently.  The 
mob  spirit  is  displaying  itself  here  and  there  in  this 
country.  I  have  sympathy  with  what  some  men  are 
saying,  but  I  have  no  sympathy  with  the  men  that  take 
their  punishment  into  their  own  hands,  and  I  want 
to  say  to  every  man  who  does  join  such  a  mob  that  I 
do  not  recognize  him  as  worthy  of  the  free  institutions 
of  the  United  States. 

Would  Not  Destroy  the  Law 

"There  are  some  organizations  in  this  country  whose 
object  is  anarchy  and  the  destruction  of  law,  but  I 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  337 

would  not  meet  their  efforts  by  making  myself  a  part- 
ner in  destroying  the  law.  I  despise  and  hate  their  pur- 
poses as  much  as  any  man,  but  I  respect  the  ancient 
processes  of  justice,  and  I  would  be  too  proud  not  to  see 
them  done  justice,  however  wrong  they  are.  And  so 
I  want  to  utter  my  earnest  protest  against  any  manifes- 
tation of  the  spirit  of  lawlessness  anywhere  or  in  any 
cause. 

"Why,  gentlemen,  look  what  it  means:  We  claim  to 
be  the  greatest  democratic  people  in  the  world,  and  de- 
mocracy means,  first  of  all,  that  we  can  govern  our- 
selves. If  our  men  have  not  self-control  then  they  are 
not  capable  of  that  great  thing  which  we  call  demo- 
cratic government.  A  man  who  takes  the  law  into  his 
hands  is  not  the  right  man  to  co-operate  in  any  form 
or  development  of  law  and  institution.  And  some  of 
the  processes  by  which  the  struggle  between  capital  and 
labor  is  carried  on  are  processes  that  come  very  near 
to  taking  the  law  into  your  own  hands. 

"I  do  not  mean  for  a  moment  to  compare  them  with 
what  I  have  just  been  speaking  of,  but  I  want  you  to 
see  that  they  are  mere  gradations  of  the  manifestations 
of  the  unwillingness  to  co-operate,  and  the  fundamental 
lesson  of  the  whole  situation  is  that  we  must  not  only 
take  common  counsel,  but  that  we  must  yield  to  and 
obey  common  counsel.  Not  all  of  the  instrumentalities 
for  this  are  at  hand.  I  am  hopeful  that  in  the  very  near 
future  new  instrumentalities  may  be  organized  by  which 
we  can  see  to  it  that  various  things  which  are  now  go- 
ing on  shall  not  go  on. 

Speaks  for  Trade  Co-Operation 

"There  are  various  processes  of  the  dilution  of  labor 
and  the  unnecessary  substitution  of  labor  and  bidding 


338  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

in  distant  markets  and  unfairly  upsetting  the  whole 
competition  of  labor,  which  ought  not  to  go  on — I  mean 
now  on  the  part  of  employers — and  we  must  inter- 
ject into  this  some  instrumentality  of  co-operation  by 
which  the  fair  thing  will  be  done  all  around.  I  am 
hopeful  that  some  such  instrumentalities  may  be  de- 
vised, but  whether  they  are  or  not,  we  must  use  those 
that  we  have  and  upon  every  occasion  where  it  is  nec- 
essary have  such  an  instrumentality  originated. 

"And  so,  my  fellow  citizens,  the  reason  that  I  came 
away  from  Washington  is  that  I  sometimes  get  lonely 
down  there.  There  are  so  many  people  in  "Washington 
who  know  things  that  are  not  so,  and  there  are  so  few 
people  in  Washington  who  know  anything  about  what 
the  people  of  the  United  States  are  thinking  about,  I 
have  to  come  away  to  get  reminded  of  the  rest  of  the 
country ;  I  have  to  come  away  and  talk  to  men  who  are 
up  against  the  real  thing  and  say  to  them,  'I  am  with 
you  if  you  are  with  me.'  And  the  only  test  of  being 
with  me  is  not  to  think  about  me  personally  at  all,  but 
merely  to  think  of  me  as  the  expression  for  the  time 
being  of  the  power  and  dignity  and  hope  of  the  United 
States." 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  339 

PRESIDENT    WILSON'S    ADDRESS    TO 

CONGRESS    PROCLAIMING    THE 

WAR  AIMS  OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES  JANUARY  8, 1918 

"Gentlemen  of  the  congress:  Once  more,  as  repeat- 
edly before,  the  spokesmen  of  the  central  empires  have 
indicated  their  desire  to  discuss  the  objects  of  the  war 
and  the  possible  basis  of  a  general  peace.  Parleys  have 
been  in  progress  at  Brest-Litovsk  between  Russia  and 
representatives  of  the  central  powers,  to  which  the  at- 
tention of  all  the  belligerents  has  been  invited  for  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  it  may  be  possible  to 
extend  these  parleys  into  a  general  conference  with 
regard  to  terms  of  peace  and  settlement.  The  Russian 
representatives  presented  not  only  a  perfectly  definite 
statement  of  the  principles  upon  which  they  would  be 
willing  to  conclude  peace,  but  also  an  equally  definite 
program  of  the  concrete  application  of  these  principles. 

Teutons  Plan  to  Keep  Land 

"The  representatives  of  the  central  powers,  on  their 
part,  presented  an  outline  of  settlement  which  if 
much  less  definite,  seemed  susceptible  of  liberal  inter- 
pretation until  their  specific  program  of  practical  terms 
was  added.  That  program  proposed  no  concessions  at 
all  either  to  sovereignty  of  Russia  or  to  the  preferences 
of  the  population  with  whose  fortunes  it  dealt,  but 
meant,  in  a  word,  that  the  central  empires  were  to  keep 
every  foot  of  territory  their  armed  forces  had  occu- 
pied— every  province,  every  city,  every  point  of  vantage 
— as  a  permanent  addition  to  their  territories  and  their 
power. 


340  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

"It  is  a  reasonable  conjecture  that  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  settlement,  which  they  at  first  suggested  orig- 
inated with  the  more  liberal  statesmen  of  Germany  and 
Austria,  the  men  who  have  begun  to  feel  the  force  of 
their  own  peoples'  thought  and  purpose,  while  the  con- 
crete terms  of  actual  settlement  came  from  the  military 
leaders,  who  have  no  thought  but  to  keep  what  they 
have  got. 

Calls  Russian  Envoys  Sincere 

"The  negotiations  have  been  broken  off.  The  Rus- 
sian representatives  were  sincere  and  in  earnest.  They 
cannot  entertain  such  proposals  of  conquest  and  dom- 
ination. 

"The  whole  incident  is  full  of  significance.  It  is  also 
full  of  perplexity.  With  whom  are  the  Russian  repre- 
sentatives dealing?  For  whom  are  the  representatives 
of  the  central  empires  speaking  ?  Are  they  speaking  for 
the  majorities  of  their  respective  parliaments  or  for  the 
minority  parties — that  military  and  imperialistic 
minority  which  has  so  far  dominated  their  whole  policy 
and  controlled  the  affairs  of  Turkey  and  of  the  Balkan 
states,  which  have  felt  obliged  to  become  their  asso- 
ciates in  this  war  ? 

"The  Russian  representatives  have  insisted,  very 
justly,  very  wisely,  and  in  the  true  spirit  of  democracy 
that  the  conferences  they  have  been  holding  with  the 
Teutonic  and  Turkish  statesmen  should  be  held  within 
open,  not  closed,  doors,  and  all  the  world  has  been 
audience  as  was  desired. 

"To  whom  have  we  been  listening,  then?  To  those 
who  speak  the  spirit  and  intention  of  the  resolutions  of 
the  German  reichstag  of  the  9th  of  July  last,  the  spirit 
and  intention  of  the  liberal  leaders  and  parties  of  Ger- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  341 

many,  or  to  those  who  resist  and  defy  that  spirit  and 
intention  and  insist  upon  conquest  and  subjugation? 
Or  are  we  listening  in  fact  to  both,  unreconciled  and  in 
open  and  hopeless  contradiction?  These  are  very  seri- 
ous and  pregnant  questions.  Upon  the  answer  to  them 
depends  the  peace  of  the  world. 

Central  Powers  Challenge  Foes 

"But  whatever  the  results  of  the  parleys  at  Brest- 
Litovsk,  whatever  the  confusions  of  counsel  and  of 
purpose  in  the  utterances  of  the  spokesmen  of  the  cen- 
tral empires,  they  have  again  attempted  to  acquaint 
the  world  with  their  objects  in  the  war  and  have  again 
challenged  their  adversaries  to  say  what  their  objects 
are,  and  what  sort  of  settlement  they  would  deem  just 
and  satisfactory.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  that 
challenge  should  not  be  responded  to,  and  responded  to 
with  the  utmost  candor.  We  do  not  wait  for  it.  Not 
once,  but  again  and  again  we  have  laid  our  whole 
thought  and  purpose  before  the  world,  not  in  general 
terms  only  but  each  time  with  sufficient  definition  to 
make  it  clear  what  sort  of  definite  terms  of  settlement 
must  necessarily  spring  out  of  them. 

Praises  Words  of  Lloyd  George 

"Within  the  last  week  Mr.  Lloyd  George  has  spoken 
with  admirable  candor  and  in  admirable  spirit  for  the 
people  and  government  of  Great  Britain.  There  is  no 
confusion  of  counsel  among  the  adversaries  of  the  cen- 
tral powers,  no  uncertainty  of  principle,  no  vagueness 
of  detail.  The  only  secrecy  of  counsel,  the  only  lack 
of  fearless  frankness,  the  only  failure  to  make  definite 
statement  of  the  objects  of  the  war  lies  with  Germany 


342  PKESIDENT  WILSON'S 

and  her  allies.  The  issues  of  life  and  death  hang  upon 
these  definitions.  No  statesman  who  has  the  least  con- 
ception of  his  responsibility  ought  for  a  moment  to  per- 
mit himself  to  continue  this  tragical  and  appalling  out- 
pouring of  blood  and  treasure  unless  he  is  sure  beyond 
a  peradventure  that  the  objects  of  the  vital  sacrifice 
are  part  and  parcel  of  the  very  life  of  society  and  that 
the  people  for  whom  he  speaks  think  them  right  and 
imperative  as  he  does. 

Voice  of  the  Russian  People 

"There  is,  moreover,  a  voice  calling  for  these  defini- 
tions of  principle  and  of  purpose  which  is,  it  seems  to 
me,  more  thrilling  and  more  compelling  than  any  of 
the  many  moving  voices  with  which  the  troubled  air 
of  the  world  is  filled.  It  is  the  voice  of  the  Russian 
people.  They  are  prostrate  and  all  but  helpless,  it  would 
seem,  before  the  grim  power  of  Germany,  which  has 
hitherto  known  no  relenting  and  no  pity.  Their  power, 
apparently,  is  shattered,  and  yet  their  soul  is  not  sub- 
servient. 

All  Peoples  Partners  in  Program 

' '  They  will  not  yield  either  in  principle  or  in  action. 
The  conception  of  what  is  right,  of  what  it  is  humane 
and  honorable  for  them  to  accept,  has  been  stated  with 
a  frankness,  a  largeness  of  view,  a  generosity  of  spirit 
and  a  universal  human  sympathy,  which  must  challenge 
the  admiration  of  every  friend  of  mankind;  and  they 
have  refused  to  compound  their  ideals  or  desert  others 
that  they  themselves  may  be  safe. 

"They  call  to  us  to  say  what  it  is  that  we  desire,  in 
what,  if  in  anything  our  purpose  and  our  spirit  differ 


GREAT  SPEECHES  343 

from  theirs ;  and  I  believe  that  the  people  of  the  United 
States  would  wish  me  to  respond  with  utter  simplicity 
and  frankness. 

"Whether  their  present  leaders  believe  it  or  not,  it 
is  our  heartfelt  desire  and  hope  that  some  way  may  be 
opened  whereby  we  may  be  privileged  to  assist  the  peo- 
ple of  Russia  to  attain  their  utmost  hope  of  liberty  and 
ordered  peace. 

Day  of  Aggrandizement  Gone  By 

"It  will  be  our  wish  and  purpose  that  the  processes 
of  peace,  when  they  are  begun,  shall  be  absolutely  open 
and  that  they  shall  involve  and  permit  henceforth  no 
secret  understandings  of  any  kind.  The  day  of  conquest 
and  aggrandizement  is  gone  by;  so  is  also  the  day  of 
secret  covenants  entered  into  in  the  interest  of  particular 
governments  and  likely  at  some  unlocked  for  moment  to 
upset  the  peace  of  the  world. 

' '  It  is  this  happy  fact,  now  clear  to  the  view  of  every 
public  man  whose  thoughts  do  not  still  linger  in  an  age 
that  is  dead  and  gone,  which  makes  it  possible  for 
every  nation  whose  purposes  are  consistent  with  justice 
and  the  peace  of  the  world  to  avow  now  or  at  any  other 
time  the  objects  it  has  in  view. 

"We  entered  this  war  because  violations  of  right 
had  occurred  which  touched  us  to  the  quick  and  made 
the  life  of  our  own  people  impossible  unless  they  were 
corrected  and  the  world  secured  once  for  all  against 
their  recurrence.  What  we  demand  in  this  war,  there- 
fore, is  nothing  peculiar  to  ourselves.  It  is  that  the 
world  be  made  fit  and  safe  to  live  in,  and  particularly 
that  it  be  made  safe  for  every  peace  loving  nation  which, 
like  our  own,  wishes  to  live  its  own  life,  determine  its 
own  institutions,  be  assured  of  justice  and  fair  dealing 


344  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

by  the  other  peoples  of  the  world  as  against  force  and 
selfish  aggression. 

"All  the  peoples  of  the  world  are  in  effect  partners 
in  this  interest,  and  for  our  own  part  we  see  very 
clearly  that  unless  justice  be  done  to  others  it  will  not 
be  done  to  us.  The  program  of  the  world's  peace, 
therefore,  is  our  program,  and  that  program,  the  only 
possible  program  as  we  see  it,  is  this : 

"No  Private  Understandings" 

"I.  Open  covenants  of  peace,  openly  arrived  at, 
after  which  there  shall  be  no  private  international  un- 
derstandings of  any  kind,  but  diplomacy  shall  proceed 
always  frankly  and  in  the  public  view. 

"II.  Absolute  freedom  of  navigation  upon  the  seas 
outside  territorial  waters,  alike  in  peace  and  in  war, 
except  as  the  seas  may  be  closed  in  whole  or  in  part  by 
international  action  for  the  enforcement  of  interna- 
tional covenants. 

"III.  The  removal,  so  far  as  possible,  of  all  eco- 
nomic barriers  and  the  establishment  of  an  equality  of 
trade  conditions  among  all  the  nations  consenting  to 
the  peace  and  associating  themselves  for  its  mainn 
tenance. 

To  Reduce  National  Armaments 

"IV.  Adequate  guaranties  given  and  taken  that  na- 
tional armaments  will  be  reduced  to  the  lowest  point 
consistent  with  domestic  safety. 

"V.  A  free,  open  minded  and  absolutely  impartial 
adjustment  of  all  colonial  claims,  based  upon  a  strict 
observance  of  the  principle  that  in  determining  all  such 
questions  of  sovereignty  the  interests  of  the  populations 
concerned  must  have  equal  weight  with  the  equitable 


GREAT  SPEECHES  345 

claims  of  the  government  whose  title  is  to  be  deter- 
mined. 

Evacuate  All  Russian  Territory 

"VI.  The  evacuation  of  all  Russian  territory  and 
such  a  settlement  of  all  questions  affecting  Russia  as 
will  secure  the  best  and  freest  co-operation  of  the  other 
nations  of  the  world  in  obtaining  for  her  an  unham- 
pered and  unembarrassed  opportunity  for  the  inde- 
pendent determination  of  her  own  political  develop- 
ment and  national  policy  and  assure  her  of  a  sincere 
welcome  into  the  society  of  free  nations  under  institu- 
tions of  her  own  choosing,  and,  more  than  a  welcome, 
assistance  also  of  every  kind  that  she  may  need  and 
may  herself  desire.  The  treatment  accorded  Russia 
by  her  sister  nations  in  the  months  to  come  will  be  the 
acid  test  of  their  good  will,  of  their  comprehension  of 
her  needs  as  distinguished  from  their  own  interests  and 
of  their  intelligent  and  unselfish  sympathy. 

Belgium  Must  Be  Restored 

"VII.  Belgium,  the  whole  world  will  agree,  must  be 
evacuated  and  restored,  without  any  attempt  to  limit 
the  sovereignty  which  she  enjoys  in  common  with  all 
other  free  nations.  No  other  single  act  will  serve  as 
this  will  serve  to  restore  confidence  among  the  nations 
in  the  laws  which  they  have  themselves  set  and  deter- 
mined for  the  government  of  their  relations  with  one 
another.  Without  this  healing  act  the  whole  structure 
and  validity  of  international  law  is  forever  impaired. 

Right  the  Wrong  of  Alsace-Lorraine 

"VIII.  All  French  territory  should  be  freed  and 
the  invaded  portions  restored  and  the  wrong  done  to 


346  PBESIDENT  WILSON'S 

France  by  Prussia  in  1871  in  the  matter  of  Alsace-Lor- 
raine, which  has  unsettled  the  peace  of  the  world  for 
nearly  fifty  years,  should  be  righted  in  order  that  peace 
may  once  more  be  made  secure  in  the  interest  of  all. 

"IX.  A  readjustment  of  the  frontiers  of  Italy  should 
be  effected  along  clearly  recognizable  lines  of  nation- 
ality. 

"X.  The  peoples  of  Austria-Hungary,  whose  place 
among  the  nations  we  wish  to  see  safeguarded  and  as- 
sured, should  be  accorded  the  freest  opportunity  of  au- 
tonomous development. 

"XI.  Roumania,  Serbia  and  Montenegro  should  be 
evacuated;  occupied  territories  restored;  Serbia  ac- 
corded free  and  secure  access  to  the  sea,  and  the  rela- 
tions of  the  several  Balkan  states  to  one  another  de- 
termined by  friendly  counsel  along  historically  estab- 
lished lines  of  allegiance  and  nationality;  and  interna- 
tional guaranties  of  the  political  and  economic  inde- 
pendence and  territorial  integrity  of  the  several  Balkan 
states  should  be  entered  into. 

Autonomy  for  Races  in  Turkey 

"XII.  The  Turkish  portions  of  the  present  Ottoman 
empire  should  be  assured  a  secure  sovereignty,  but  the 
other  nationalities  which  are  now  under  Turkish  rule 
should  be  assured  an  undoubted  security  of  life  and  an 
absolutely  unmolested  opportunity  of  autonomous  de- 
velopment, and  the  Dardanelles  should  be  permanently 
opened  as  a  free  passage  to  the  ships  and  commerce  of 
all  nations  under  international  guaranties. 

For  an  Independent  Poland 

"XIII.  An  independent  Polish  state  should  be 
erected  which  should  include  the  territories  inhabited 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  347 

by  indisputably  Polish  populations,  which  should  be  as- 
sured a  free  and  secure  access  to  the  sea  and  whose 
political  and  economic  independence  and  territorial  in- 
tegrity should  be  guaranteed  by  international  covenant. 
"XIV.  A  general  association  of  nations  must  be 
formed  under  specific  covenants  for  the  purpose  of  af- 
fording mutual  guaranties  of  political  independence  and 
territorial  integrity  to  great  and  small  states  alike. 

"Stand  Together  to  the  End" 

"In  regard  to  these  essential  rectifications  of  wrong 
and  assertions  of  right  we  feel  ourselves  to  be  intimate 
partners  of  all  the  governments  and  peoples  associated 
together  against  the  imperialists.  We  cannot  be  sepa- 
rated in  interest  or  divided  in  purpose.  "We  stand  to- 
gether until  the  end. 

"For  such  arrangements  and  covenants  we  are  will- 
ing to  fight  and  to  continue  to  fight  until  they  are 
achieved,  but  only  because  we  wish  the  right  to  prevail 
and  desire  a  just  and  stable  peace,  such  as  can  be  secured 
only  by  removing  the  chief  provocations  to  war,  which 
this  program  does  remove. 

To  Treat  Germany  as  an  Equal 

"We  have  no  jealousy  of  German  greatness  and  there 
is  nothing  in  this  program  that  impairs  it.  We  grudge 
her  no  achievement  or  distinction  of  learning  or  of 
pacific  enterprise  such  as  have  made  her  record  very 
bright  and  very  enviable.  We  do  not  wish  to  injure 
her  or  to  block  in  any  way  her  legitimate  influence  or 
power.  We  do  not  wish  to  fight  her  either  with  arms  or 
with  hostile  arrangements  of  trade,  if  she  is  willing  to 
associate  herself  with  us  and  the  other  peace  loving 
nations  of  the  world  in  covenants  of  justice  and  law  and 


348  GEEAT  SPEECHES 

fair  dealing.  We  wish  her  only  to  accept  a  place  of 
equality  among  the  peoples  of  the  world — the  new  world 
in  which  we  now  live — instead  of  a  place  of  mastery. 

' '  Neither  do  we  presume  to  suggest  to  her  any  altera- 
tion or  modification  of  her  institutions.  But  it  is  neces- 
sary, we  must  frankly  say,  and  necessary  as  a  prelimini- 
nary  to  any  intelligent  dealings  with  her  on  our  part, 
that  we  should  know  whom  her  spokesmen  speak  for 
when  they  speak  to  us,  whether  for  the  reichstag  ma- 
jority or  for  the  military  party  and  the  men  whose 
creed  is  imperial  domination. 

"Justice  to  All  Peoples" 

"We  have  spoken  now,  surely,  in  terms  too  concrete 
to  admit  of  any  further  doubt  or  question.  An  evident 
principle  runs  through  the  whole  program  I  have  out- 
lined. It  is  the  principle  of  justice  to  all  peoples  and 
nationalities  and  their  right  to  live  on  equal  terms  of 
liberty  and  safety  with  one  another,  whether  they  be 
strong  or  weak. 

' '  Unless  this  principle  be  made  its  foundation  no  part 
of  the  structure  of  international  justice  can  stand.  The 
people  of  the  United  States  could  act  upon  no  other 
principle,  and  to  the  vindication  of  this  principle  they 
are  ready  to  devote  their  lives,  their  honor  and  every- 
thing that  they  possess. 

"The  moral  climax  of  this,  the  culminating  and 
final  war  for  human  liberty  has  come,  and  they  are 
ready  to  put  their  strength,  their  own  highest  purpose, 
their  own  integrity  and  devotion  to  the  test." 


PRESIDENT    WILSON    GIVES    AMER- 
ICA'S ANSWER   TO   GERMANY'S 
DREAM   OF  CONQUEST 

"Fellow  citizens:  This  is  the  anniversary  of  our  ac- 
ceptance of  Germany's  challenge  to  fight  for  our  right 
to  live  and  be  free,  and  for  the  sacred  rights  of  free 
men  everywhere.  The  nation  is  awake.  There  is  no 
need  to  call  to  it.  We  know  what  the  war  must  cost, 
our  utmost  sacrifice,  the  lives  of  our  fittest  men,  and  if 
need  be,  all  that  we  possess.  The  loan  we  are  met  to 
discuss  is  one  of  the  least  parts  of  what  we  are  called 
upon  to  do,  though  in  itself  imperative.  The  people 
of  the  whole  country  are  alive  to  the  necessity  of  it,  and 
are  ready  to  lead  to  the  utmost,  even  where  it  involves 
a  sharp  skimping  and  daily  sacrifice  to  lend  out  of 
meager  earnings.  They  will  look  with  reprobation  and 
contempt  upon  who  can  and  will  not  upon  those  who, 
demand  a  higher  rate  of  interest  upon  those  who  think 
of  it  as  a  mere  commercial  transaction.  I  have  not 
come  therefore,  to  urge  the  loan.  I  have  come  only  to 
give  you,  if  I  can,  a  more  vivid  conception  of  what  it  is 
for. 

Reasons  for  the  War. 

"The  reasons  for  this  great  war,  the  reason  why  it 
had  to  come,  the  need  to  fight  it  through,  and  the 
issues  that  hang  upon  its  outcome,  are  more  clearly  dis- 
closed now  than  ever  before.  It  is  easy  to  see  just  what 
this  particular  loan  means  because  the  cause  we  are 
fighting  for  stands  more  sharply  revealed  than  at  any 
previous  crisis  of  the  momentous  struggle.  The  man 
who  knows  least  can  now  see  plainly  how  the  cause  of 
justice  stands  and  what  the  imperishable  thing  he  is 
asked  to  invest  in  is.  Men  of  America  may  be  more 

349 


350  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

sure  than  they  ever  were  before  that  the  cause  is  their 
own  and  that,  if  it  should  be  lost,  their  own  great  na- 
tion's place  and  mission  in  the  world  would  be  lost 
with  it. 

Purposes  of  Germany. 

"I  call  to  you  to  witness,  my  fellow  countrymen,  that 
at  no  stage  of  this  terrible  business  have  I  judged  the 
purposes  of  Germany  intemperately.  I  should  be 
ashamed  in  the  presence  of  affairs  so  grave,  so  fraught 
with  the  destinies  of  mankind  throughout  all  the  world, 
to  speak  with  truculence,  to  use  the  weak  language  of 
hatred  or  vindictive  purpose.  We  must  judge  as  we 
would  be  judged.  I  have  sought  to  learn  the  objects 
Germany  has  in  this  war  from  the  mouths  of  her  own 
spokesmen,  and  to  deal  as  frankly  with  them  as  I  wished 
them  to  deal  with  me.  I  have  laid  bare  our  own  ideals, 
our  own  purposes  without  reserve  or  doubtful  phrase 
and  have  asked  them  to  say  as  plainly  what  it  is  that 
they  seek. 

"We  have  ourselves  proposed  no  injustice,  no  ag- 
gression. We  are  ready,  whenever  the  final  reckoning 
is  made,  to  be  just  to  the  German  people,  deal  fairly 
with  the  German  power,  as  with  all  others.  There  can 
be  no  difference  between  peoples  in  the  final  judgment, 
if  it  is  indeed  to  be  a  righteous  judgment.  To  propose 
anything  but  justice,  even  handed  and  dispassionate 
justice,  to  Germany  at  any  time,  whatever  the  outcome 
of  the  war,  would  be  to  renounce  and  dishonor  our  own 
cause.  For  we  ask  nothing  that  we  are  not  willing  to 
accord. 

Germany's  Answer. 

"It  has  been  with  this  thought  that  I  have  sought  to 
learn  from  those  who  spoke  for  Germany  whether  it  was 


GREAT  SPEECHES  351 

justice  or  dominion  and  the  execution  of  their  own  will 
upon  the  other  nations  of  the  world  that  the  German 
leaders  were  seeking.  They  have  answered,  in  unmis- 
takable terms.  They  have  avowed  that  it  was  not  jus- 
tice but  dominion  and  the  unhindered  execution  of  their 
own  will.  The  avowal  has  not  come  from  Germany's 
statesmen.  It  has  come  from  her  military  leaders,  who 
are  her  real  rulers.  Her  statesmen  have  said  that  they 
wished  peace  and  were  ready  to  discuss  its  terms  when- 
ever their  opponents  were  willing  to  sit  down  at  the 
conference  table  with  them.  Her  present  chancellor  has 
said — in  indefinite  and  uncertain  terms,  indeed,  and  in 
phrases  that  often  seem  to  deny  their  own  meaning,  but 
with  as  much  plainness  as  thought  prudent — that  he 
believed  that  peace  should  be  based  upon  the  principles 
which  we  had  declared  would  be  our  own  in  the  final 
settlement. 

"At  Brest  Litvosk  her  civilian  delegates  spoke  in  simi- 
lar terms;  professed  their  desire  to  conclude  a  fair 
peace,  and  accord  to  the  peoples  with  whose  fortunes 
they  were  dealing  the  right  to  choose  their  own  alle- 
giances. But  action  accompanied  and  followed  the 
profession.  Their  military  masters,  the  men  who  act 
for  Germany  and  exhibit  her  purpose  in  execution,  pro- 
claimed a  very  different  conclusion.  We  can  not  mis- 
take what  they  have  done — in  Russia,  in  Finland,  in 
the  Ukraine,  in  Roumania.  The  real  test  of  their  jus- 
tice and  fair  play  has  come.  From  this  we  may  judge 
the  rest.  They  are  enjoying  in  Russia  a  cheap  triumph 
in  which  no  brave  or  gallant  nation  can  long  take  pride. 
A  great  people,  helpless  by  their  own  act,  lies  for  the 
time  at  their  mercy.  Their  fair  professions  are  for- 
gotten. They  nowhere  set  up  justice,  but  everywhere 
impose  their  power  and  exploit  everything  for  their 


352  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

own  use  and  aggrandizement,  and  the  peoples  of  con- 
quered provinces  are  invited  to  be  free  under  their  do- 
minion. 

The  German  Aim. 

"Are  we  not  justified  in  believing  that  they  would 
do  the  same  things  at  their  western  front  if  they  were 
not  there  face  to  face  with  armies  whom  even  their 
countless  divisions  can  not  overcome?  If  when  they 
have  felt  their  check  to  be  final,  they  should  propose 
favorable  and  equitable  terms  with  regard  to  Belgium 
and  France  and  Italy,  could  they  blame  us  if  we  con- 
cluded that  they  did  so  only  to  assure  themselves  of  a 
free  hand  in  Russia  and  the  east  ? 

"Their  purpose  is  undoubtedly  to  make  all  the  Slavic 
peoples,  all  the  free  and  ambitious  nations  of  the  Baltic 
peninsula,  all  the  lands  that  Turkey  has  dominated  and 
misruled,  subject  to  their  will  and  ambition  and  build 
upon  that  dominion  an  empire  of  force  upon  which 
they  fancy  that  they  can  then  erect  an  empire  of  gain 
and  commercial  supremacy — an  empire  as  hostile  to  the 
Americas  as  to  Europe  which  it  will  overawe — an  empire 
which  will  ultimately  master  Persia,  India  and  the 
peoples  of  the  far  east.  In  such  a  program  our  ideals, 
the  ideals  of  justice  and  humanity  and  liberty,  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  free  self-determination  of  nations  upon 
which  all  the  modern  world  insists,  can  play  no  part. 

"They  are  rejected  for  the  ideals  of  power,  for  the 
principle  that  the  strong  must  rule  the  weak,  that  trade 
must  follow  the  "flag,  whether  those  to  whom  it  is  taken 
welcome  it  or  not,  that  the  peoples  of  the  world  are 
to  be  made  subject  to  the  patronage  and  overlordship 
of  those  who  have  the  power  to  enforce  it. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  353 

» 

What  German  Action  Means. 

"That  program  once  carried  out,  America  and  all  who 
care  or  dare  to  stand  with  her  must  arm  and  prepare 
themselves  to  contest  the  mastery  of  the  .world,  a  mas- 
tery in  which  the  rights  of  common  men,  the  rights  of 
women  and  all  who  are  weak,  must  for  the  time  being 
be  trodden  underfoot  and  disregarded  and  the  old,  age- 
long struggle  for  freedom  and  right  begin  again  at  its 
beginning.  Everything  that  America  has  lived  for  and 
loved  and  grown  great  to  vindicate  and  bring  to  a  glor- 
ious realization  will  have  fallen  in  utter  ruin  and  the 
gates  of  mercy  once  more  piteously  shut  upon  mankind. 

' '  The  thing  is  preposterous  and  impossible ;  and  yet 
is  it  not  what  the  whole  course  and  action  of  the  German 
armies  has  meant  wherever  they  have  moved  ?  I  do  not 
wish,  even  in  this  moment  of  utter  disillusionment,  to 
judge  harshly  or  unrighteously.  I  judge  only  what  the 
German  arms  have  accomplished  with  unpitying  thor- 
oughness throughout  every  fair  region  they  have 
touched. 

Ready  to  Discuss  Fair  Peace. 

' '  What,  then,  are  we  to  do  ?  For  myself,  I  am  ready, 
ready  still,  ready  even  now,  to  discuss  a  fair  and  just 
and  honest  peace  at  any  time  that  it  is  sincerely  pro- 
posed— a  peace  in  which  the  strong  and  the  weak  shall 
fare  alike.  But  the  answer,  when  I  proposed  such  a 
peace,  came  from  the  German  commanders  in  Russia 
and  I  can  not  mistake  the  meaning  of  the  answer. 

"I  accept  the  challenge.  I  know  that  you  accept  it. 
All  the  world  shall  know  that  you  accept  it.  It  shall 
appear  in  the  utter  sacrifice  and  self-forgetfulness  with 
which  we  shall  give  all  that  we  love  and  all  that  we  have 
to  redeem  the  world  and  make  it  fit  for  free  men  like 


354  GREAT  SPEECHES 

ourselves  to  live  in.  This  now  is  the  meaning  of  all 
that  we  do.  Let  everything  that  we  say,  my  fellow 
countrymen,  everything  that  we  henceforth  plan  and 
accomplish,  ring  true  to  this  response  till  the  majesty 
and  might  of  our  concerted  power  shall  fill  the  thought 
and  utterly  defeat  the  force  of  those  who  flout  and 
misprise  what  we  honor  and  hold  dear. 

But  One  Response. 

"Germany  has  once  more  said  that  force,  and  force 
alone,  shall  decide  whether  justice  and  peace  shall  reign 
in  the  affairs  of  men,  whether  right  as  America  con- 
ceives it  shall  determine  the  destinies  of  mankind. 
There  is  therefore  but  one  response  possible  from  us: 
Force,  force  to  the  utmost,  force  without  stint  or  limit, 
the  righteous  and  triumphant  force  which  shall  make 
right  the  law  of  the  world,  and  cast  every  selfish  do- 
minion down  in  the  dust." 


ANNUAL  ADDRESS  TO  CONGRESS 
DECEMBER  2,   1918 

The  President  Announces  His  Intention  to 
Go  to  Paris 

Gentlemen  of  the  Congress : 

The  year  that  has  elapsed  since  I  last  stood  before 
you  to  fulfill  my  constitutional  duty  to  give  to  the 
Congress  from  time  to  time  information  on  the  state 
of  the  Union  has  been  so  crowded  with  great  events, 
great  processes,  and  great  results  that  I  cannot  hope 
to  give  you  an  adequate  picture  of  its  transactions  or 
of  the  far-reaching  changes  which  have  been  wrought 
in  the  life  of  our  nation  and  of  the  world.  You  have 
yourselves  witnessed  these  things,  as  I  have.  It  is  too 
soon  to  assess  them;  and  we  who  stand  in  the  midst 
of  them  and  are  part  of  them  are  less  qualified  than 
men  of  another  generation  will  be  to  say  what  they 
mean,  or  even  what  they  have  been.  But  some  great 
outstanding  facts  are  unmistakable  and  constitute,  in 
a  sense,  part  of  the  public  business  with  which  it  is  our 
duty  to  deal.  To  state  them  is  to  set  the  stage  for  the 
legislative  and  executive  action  which  must  grow  out 
of  them  and  which  we  have  yet  to  shape  and  determine. 

A  year  ago  we  had  sent  145,918  men  overseas.  Since 
then  we  have  sent  1,950,513,  an  average  of  162,542  each 
month,  the  number  in  fact  rising,  in  May  last  to  245,- 
951,  in  June  to  278,760,  in  July  to  307,182,  and  continu- 
ing to  reach  similar  figures  in  August  and  September, — 
in  August  289,570  and  in  September  257,438.  No  such 

355 


356  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

movement  of  troops  ever  took  place  before,  across  three 
thousand  miles  of  sea,  followed  by  adequate  equipment 
and  supplies,  and  carried  safely  through  extraordinary 
dangers  of  attack,-: — dangers  which  were  alike  strange 
and  infinitely  difficult  to  guard  against.  In  all  this 
movement  only  seven  hundred  and  fifty-eight  men  were 
lost  by  enemy  attack, — six  hundred  and  thirty  of  whom 
were  upon  a  single  English  transport  which  was  sunk 
near  the  Orkney  Islands. 

I  need  not  tell  you  what  lay  back  of  this  great  move- 
ment of  men  and  material.  It  is  not  invidious  to  say 
that  back  of  it  lay  a. supporting  organization  of  the 
industries  of  the  country  and  of  all  its  productive  ac- 
tivities more  complete,  more  thorough  in  method  and 
effective  in  result,  more  spirited  and  unanimous  in  pur- 
pose and  effort  than  any  other  great  belligerent  had 
been  able  to  effect.  We  profited  greatly  by  the  expe- 
rience of  the  nations  which  had  already  been  engaged 
for  nearly  three  years  in  the  exigent  and  exacting  busi- 
ness, their  every  resource  and  every  executive  profi- 
ciency taxed  to  the  utmost.  "We  were  their  pupils.  But 
we  learned  quickly  and  acted  with  a  promptness  and 
a  readiness  of  co-operation  that  justify  our  great  pride 
that  we  were  able  to  serve  the  world  with  unparalleled 
energy  and  quick  accomplishment. 

But  it  is  not  the  physical  scale  and  executive  effi- 
ciency of  preparation,  supply,  equipment  and  despatch 
that  I  would  dwell  upon,  but  the  mettle  and  quality  of 
the  officers  and  men  we  sent  over  and  of  the  sailors  who 
kept  the  seas,  and  the  spirit  of  the  nation  that  stood 
behind  them.  No  soldiers  or  sailors  ever  proved  them- 
selves more  quickly  ready  for  the  test  of  battle  or  ac- 
quitted themselves  with  more  splendid  courage  and 
achievement  when  put  to  the  test.  Those  of  us  who 


GREAT  SPEECHES  357 

played  some  part  in  directing  the  great  processes  by 
which  the  war  was  pushed  irresistibly  forward  to  the 
final  triumph  may  now  forget  all  that  and  delight  our 
thoughts  with  the  story  of  what  our  men  did.  Their 
officers  understood  the  grim  and  exacting  task  they 
had  undertaken  and  performed  it  with  an  audacity, 
efficiency,  and  unhesitating  courage  that  touch  the 
story  of  convoy  and  battle  with  imperishable  distinction 
at  every  turn,  whether  the  enterprise  were  great  or 
small, — from  their  great  chiefs,  Pershing  and  Sims, 
down  to  the  youngest  lieutenant;  and  their  men  were 
worthy  of  them, — such  men  as  hardly  need  to  be  com- 
manded, and  go  to  their  terrible  adventure  blithely  and 
with  the  quick  intelligence  of  those  who  know  just 
what  it  is  they  would  accomplish.  I  am  proud  to  be 
the  fellow-countryman  of  men  of  such  stuff  and  valour. 
Those  of  us  who  stayed  at  home  did  our  duty ;  the  war 
could  not  have  been  won  or  the  gallant  men  who  fought 
it  given  their  opportunity  to  win  it  otherwise ;  but  for 
many  a  long  day  we  shall  think  ourselves  "accurs'd 
we  were  not  there,  and  hold  our  manhoods  cheap  while 
any  speaks  that  fought"  with  these  at  St.  Mihiel  or 
Thierry.  The  memory  of  those  days  of  triumphant  bat- 
tle will  go  with  these  fortunate  men  to  their  graves; 
and  each  will  have  his  favourite  memory.  "Old  men 
forget ;  yet  all  shall  be  forgot,  but  he  '11  remember  with 
advantages  what  feats  he  did  that  day ! ' ' 

What  we  all  thank  God  for  with  deepest  gratitude  is 
that  our  men  went  in  force  into  the  line  of  battle  just 
at  the  critical  moment  when  the  whole  fate  of  the  world 
seemed  to  hang  in  the  balance  and  threw  their  fresh 
strength  into  the  ranks  of  freedom  in  time  to  turn  the 
whole  tide  and  sweep  of  the  fateful  struggle, — turn  it 
once  for  all,  so  that  thenceforth  it  was  back,  back,  back 


358  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

for  their  enemies,  always  back,  never  again  forward! 
After  that  it  was  only  a  scant  four  months  before  the 
commanders  of  the  Central  Empires  knew  themselves 
beaten ;  and  now  their  very  empires  are  in  liquidation ! 

And  throughout  it  all  how  fine  the  spirit  of  the  nation 
was :  what  unity  of  purpose,  what  untiring  zeal !  What 
elevation  of  purpose  ran  through  all  its  splendid  display 
of  strength,  its  untiring  accomplishment.  I  have  said 
that  those  of  us  who  stayed  at  home  to  do  the  work 
of  organization  and  supply  will  always  wish  that  we 
had  been  with  the  men  whom  we  sustained  by  our 
labour ;  but  we  can  never  be  ashamed.  It  has  been  an 
inspiring  thing  to  be  here  in  the  midst  of  fine  men  who 
had  turned  aside  from  every  private  interest  of  their 
own  and  devoted  the  whole  of  their  trained  capacity 
to  the  tasks  that  supplied  the  sinews  of  the  whole  great 
undertaking!  The  patriotism,  the  unselfishness,  the 
thoroughgoing  devotion  and  distinguished  capacity  that 
marked  their  toilsome  labours,  day  after  day,  month 
after  month,  have  made  them  fit  mates  and  comrades 
of  the  men  in  the  trenches  and  on  the  sea.  And  not 
the  men  here  in  Washington  only.  They  have  but 
directed  the  vast  achievement.  Throughout  innumer- 
able factories,  upon  innumerable  farms,  in  the  depths 
of  coal  mines  and  iron  mines  and  copper  mines,  wher- 
ever the  stuffs  of  industry  were  to  be  obtained  and  pre- 
pared, in  the  shipyards,  on  the  railways,  at  the  docks, 
on  the  sea,  in  every  labor  that  was  needed  to  sustain 
the  battle  lines,  men  have  vied  with  each  other  to  do 
their  part  and  do  it  well.  They  can  look  any  man-at- 
arms  in  the  face,  and  say,  ' '  We  also  strove  to  win  and 
gave  the  best  that  was  in  us  to  make  our  fleets  and 
armies  sure  of  their  triumph!" 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  women, — of  their  in- 


GREAT  SPEECHES  359 

stant  intelligence,  quickening  every  task  that  they 
touched;  their  capacity  for  organization  and  co-opera- 
tion, which  gave  their  action  discipline  and  enhanced 
the  effectiveness  of  everything  they  attempted;  their 
aptitude  at  tasks  to  which  they  had  never  before  set 
their  hands ;  their  utter  self-sacrifice  alike  in  what  they 
did  and  in  what  they  gave?  Their  contribution  to  the 
great  result  is  beyond  appraisal.  They  have  added  a 
new  lustre  to  the  annals  of  American  womanhood. 

The  least  tribute  we  can  pay  them  is  to  make  them 
the  equals  of  men  in  political  rights  as  they  have  proved 
themselves  their  equals  in  every  field  of  practical  work 
they  have  entered,  whether  for  themselves  or  for  their 
country.  These  great  days  of  completed  achievement 
would  be  sadly  marred  were  we  to  omit  that  act  of  jus- 
tice. Besides  the  immense  practical  services  they  have 
rendered,  the  women  of  the  country  have  been  the 
moving  spirits  in  the  systematic  economies  by  which 
our  people  have  voluntarily  assisted  to  supply  the  suf- 
fering peoples  of  the  world  and  the  armies  upon  every 
front  with  food  and  everything  else  that  we  had  that 
might  serve- the  common  cause.  The  details  of  such  a 
story  can  never  be  fully  written,  but  we  carry  them  at 
our  hearts  and  thank  God  that  we  can  say  that  we  are 
the  kinsmen  of  such. 

And  now  we  are  sure  of  the  great  triumph  for  which 
every  sacrifice  was  made.  It  has  come,  come  in  its 
completeness,  and  with  the  pride  and  inspiration  of 
these  days  of  achievement  quick  within  us  we  turn  to 
the  tasks  of  peace  again, — a  peace  secure  against  the 
violence  of  irresponsible  monarchs  and  ambitious  mili- 
tary coteries  and  made  ready  for  a  new  order,  for  new 
foundations  of  justice  and  fair  dealing. 

We  are  about  to  give  order  and  organization  to  this 


360  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

peace  not  only  for  ourselves  but  for  the  other  peoples 
of  the  world  as  well,  so  far  as  they  will  suffer  us  to 
serve  them.  It  is  international  justice  that  we  seek, 
not  domestic  safety  merely.  Our  thoughts  have  dwelt 
of  late  upon  Europe,  upon  Asia,  upon  the  near  and  the 
far  East,  very  little  upon  the  acts  of  peace  and  accom- 
modation that  wait  to  be  performed  at  our  own  doors. 
While  we  are  adjusting  our  relations  with  the  rest  of 
the  world  is  it  not  of  capital  importance  that  we  should 
clear  away  all  grounds  of  misunderstanding  with  our 
immediate  neighbors  and  give  proof  of  the  friendship 
we  really  feel?  I  hope  that  the  members  of  the  Senate 
will  permit  me  to  speak  once  more  of  the  unratified 
treaty  of  friendship  and  adjustment  with  the  Republic 
of  Colombia.  I  very  earnestly  urge  upon  them  an  early 
and  favorable  action  upon  that  vital  matter.  I  believe 
that  they  will  feel,  with  me,  that  the  stage  of  affairs 
is  now  set  for  such  action  as  will  be  not  only  just  but 
generous  and  in  the  spirit  of  the  new  age  upon  which 
we  have  so  happily  entered. 

So  far  as  our  domestic  affairs  are  concerned  the  prob- 
lem of  our  return  to  peace  is  a  problem  of  economic 
and  industrial  readjustment.  That  problem  is  less 
serious  for  us  than  it  may  turn  out  to  be  for  the  nations 
which  have  suffered  the  disarrangements  and  the  losses 
of  war  longer  than  we.  Our  people,  moreover,  do  not 
wait  to  be  coached  and  led.  They  know  their  own  busi- 
ness, are  quick  and  resourceful  at  every  readjustment, 
definite  in  purpose,  and  self-reliant  in  action.  Any 
leading  strings  we  might  seek  to  put  them  in  would 
speedily  become  hopelessly  tangled  because  they  would 
pay  no  attention  to  them  and  go  their  own  way.  All 
that  we  can  do  as  their  legislative  and  executive  ser- 
vants is  to  mediate  the  process  of  change  here,  there, 


GREAT  SPEECHES  361 

and  elsewhere  as  we  may.  I  have  heard  much  counsel 
as  to  the  plans  that  should  be  formed  and  personally 
conducted  to  a  happy  consummation,  but  from  no  quar- 
ter have  I  seen  any  general  scheme  of  "reconstruction" 
emerge  which  I  thought  it  likely  we  could  force  our 
spirited  business  men  and  self-reliant  laborers  to  accept 
with  due  pliancy  and  obedience. 

While  the  war  lasted  we  set  up  many  agencies  by 
which  to  direct  the  industries  of  the  country  in  the  ser- 
vices it  was  necessary  for  them  to  render,  by  which  to 
make  sure  of  an  abundant  supply  of  the  materials 
needed,  by  which  to  check  undertakings  that  could  for 
the  time  be  dispensed  with  and  stimulate  those  that 
were  most  serviceable  in  war,  by  which  to  gain  for  the 
purchasing  departments  of  the  Government  a  certain 
control  over  the  prices  of  essential  articles  and  mate- 
rials, by  which  to  restrain  trade  with  alien  enemies, 
make  the  most  of  the  available  shipping,  and  systema- 
tize financial  transactions,  both  public  and  private,  so 
that  there  would  be  no  unnecessary  conflict  or  confu- 
sion,— by  which,  in  short,  to  put  every  material  energy 
of  the  country  in  harness  to  draw  the  common  load  and 
make  of  us  one  team  in  the  accomplishment  of  a  great 
task.  But  the  moment  we  knew  the  armistice  to  have 
been  signed  we  took  the  harness  off.  Raw  materials 
upon  which  the  Government  had  kept  its  hand  for  fear 
there  should  not  be  enough  for  the  industries  that  sup- 
plied the  armies  have  been  released  and  put  into  the 
general  market  again.  Great  industrial  plants  whose 
whole  output  and  machinery  had  been  taken  over  for 
the  uses  of  the  Government  have  been  set  free  to  return 
to  the  uses  to  which  they  were  put  before  the  war.  It 
has  not  been  possible  to  remove  so  readily  or  so  quickly 
the  control  of  foodstuffs  and  of  shipping,  because  the 


362  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

world  has  still  to  be  fed  from  our  granaries  and  the 
ships  are  still  needed  to  send  supplies  to  our  men  over- 
sea and  to  bring  the  men  back  as  fast  as  the  disturbed 
conditions  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  permit;  but 
even  there  restraints  are  being  relaxed  as  much  as  pos- 
sible and  more  and  more  as  the  weeks  go  by. 

Never  before  have  there  been  agencies  in  existence 
in  this  country  which  knew  so  much  of  the  field  of  sup- 
ply, of  labor,  and  of  industry  as  the  War  Industries 
Board,  the  War  Trade  Board,  the  Labor  Department, 
the  Food  Administration,  and  the  Fuel  Administration 
have  known  since  their  labors  became  thoroughly  sys- 
tematized; and  they  have  not  been  isolated  agencies; 
they  have  been  directed  by  men  which  represented  the 
permanent  departments  of  the  Government  and  so  have 
been  the  centers  of  unified  and  co-operative  action.  It 
has  been  the  policy  of  the  executive,  therefore,  since 
the  armistice  was  assured  (which  is  in  effect  a  complete 
submission  of  the  enemy)  to  put  the  knowledge  of  these 
bodies  at  the  disposal  of  the  business  men  of  the  coun- 
try and  to  offer  their  intelligent  mediation  at  every 
point  and  in  every  matter  where  it  was  desired.  It  is 
surprising  how  fast  the  process  of  return  to  a  peace 
footing  has  moved  in  the  three  weeks  since  the  fighting 
stopped.  It  promises  to  outrun  any  inquiry  that  may 
be  instituted  and  any  aid  that  may  be  offered.  It  will 
not  be  easy  to  direct  it  any  better  than  it  will  direct 
itself.  The  American  business  man  is  of  quick  initiative. 

The  ordinary  and  normal  processes  of  private  initia- 
tive will  not,  however,  provide  immediate  employment 
for  all  of  the  men  of  our  returning  armies.  Those  who 
are  of  trained  capacity,  those  who  are  skilled  workmen, 
those  who  have  acquired  familiarity  with  established 
businesses,  those  who  are  ready  and  willing  to  go  to  the 


GREAT  SPEECHES  363 

farms,  all  those  whose  aptitudes  are  known  or  will  be 
sought  out  by  employers  will  find  no  difficulty,  it  is 
safe  to  say,  in  finding  place  and  employment.  But 
there  will  be  others  who  will  be  at  a  loss  where  to  gain 
a  livelihood  unless  pains  are  taken  to  guide  them  and 
put  them  in  the  way  of  work.  There  will  be  a  large 
floating  residuum  of  labor  which  should  not  be  left 
wholly  to  shift  for  itself.  It  seems  to  me  important, 
therefore,  that  the  development  of  public  works  of 
every  sort  should  be  promptly  resumed,  in  order  that 
opportunities  should  be  created  for  unskilled  labor  in 
particular,  and  that  plans  should  be  made  for  such  de- 
velopments of  our  unused  lands  and  our  natural  re- 
sources as  we  have  hitherto  lacked  stimulation  to  un- 
dertake. 

I  particularly  direct  your  attention  to  the  very  prac- 
tical plans  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  has 
developed  in  his  annual  report  and  before  your  com- 
mittees for  the  reclamation  of  arid,  swamp,  and  cut- 
over  lands  which  might,  if  the  states  were  willing  and 
able  to  co-operate,  redeem  some  three  hundred  million 
acres  of  land  for  cultivation.  There  are  said  to  be 
fifteen  or  twenty  million  acres  of  land  in  the  West,  at 
present  arid,  for  whose  reclamation  water  is  available, 
if  properly  conserved.  There  are  about  two  hundred 
and  thirty  million  acres  from  which  the  forests  have 
been  cut  but  which  have  never  yet  been  cleared  for  the 
plow  and  which  lie  waste  and  desolate.  These  lie  scat- 
tered all  over  the  Union.  And  there  are  nearly  eighty 
million  acres  of  land  that  lie  under  swamps  or  subject 
to  periodical  overflow  or  too  wet  for  anything  but 
grazing  which  it  is  perfectly  feasible  to  drain  and  pro- 
tect and  redeem.  The  Congress  can  at  once  direct 
thousands  of  the  returning  soldiers  to  the  reclamation 


364  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

of  the  arid  lands  which  it  has  already  undertaken,  if 
it  will  but  enlarge  the  plans  and  the  appropriations 
which  it  has  entrusted  to  the  Department  of  the  In- 
terior. It  is  possible  in  dealing  with  our  unused  land 
to  effect  a  great  rural  and  agricultural  development 
which  will  afford  the  best  sort  of  opportunity  to  men 
who  want  to  help  themselves;  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  has  thought  the  possible  methods  out  in  a  way 
which  is  worthy  of  your  most  friendly  attention. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  control  which  must  yet  for  a 
while,  perhaps  for  a  long  while,  be  exercised  over  ship- 
ping because  of  the  priority  of  service  to  which  our 
forces  overseas  are  entitled  and  which  should  also  be 
accorded  the  shipments  which  are  to  save  recently  lib- 
erated peoples  from  starvation  and  many  devastated 
regions  from  permanent  ruin.  May  I  not  say  a  special 
word  about  the  needs  of  Belgium  and  northern  France  ? 
No  sums  of  money  paid  by  way  of  indemnity  will  serve 
of  themselves  to  save  them  from  hopeless  disadvantage 
for  years  to  come.  Something  more  must  be  done  than 
merely  find  the  money.  If  they  had  money  and  raw 
materials  in  abundance  tomorrow  they  could  not  re- 
sume their  place  in  the  industry  of  the  world  tomorrow, 
— the  very  important  place  they  held  before  the  flame  of 
war  swept  across  them.  Many  of  their  factories  are 
razed  to  the  ground.  Much  of  their  machinery  is  de- 
stroyed or  has  been  taken  away.  Their  people  are 
scattered  and  many  of  their  best  workmen  are  dead. 
Their  markets  will  be  taken  by  others,  if  they  are  not 
in  some  special  way  assisted  to  rebuild  their  factories 
and  replace  their  lost  instruments  of  manufacture. 
They  should  not  be  left  to  the  vicissitudes  of  the  sharp 
competition  for  materials  and  for  industrial  facilities 
which  is  now  to  set  in.  I  hope,  therefore,  that  the 


GREAT  SPEECHES  365 

Congress  will  not  be  unwilling,  if  it  should  become  nec- 
essary, to  grant  to  some  such  agency  as  the  War  Trade 
Board  the  right  to  establish  priorities  of  export  and 
supply  for  the  benefit  of  these  people  whom  we  have 
been  so  happy  to  assist  in  saving  from  the  German 
terror  and  whom  we  must  not  now  thoughtlessly  leave 
to  shift  for  themselves  in  a  pitiless  competitive  market. 

For  the  steadying  and  facilitation  of  our  own  do- 
mestic business  readjustments  nothing  is  more  impor- 
tant than  the  immediate  determination  of  the  taxes  that 
are  to  be  levied  for  1918,  1919,  and  1920.  As  much  of 
the  burden  of  taxation  must  be  lifted  from  business  as 
sound  methods  of  financing  the  Government  will  per- 
mit, and  those  who  conduct  the  great  essential  indus- 
tries of  the  country  must  be  told  as  exactly  as  possible 
what  obligations  to  the  Government  they  will  be  ex- 
pected to  meet  in  the  years  immediately  ahead  of  them. 
It  will  be  of  serious  consequence  to  the  country  to 
delay  removing  all  uncertainties  in  this  matter  a  single 
day  longer  than  the  right  processes  of  debate  justify. 
It  is  idle  to  talk  of  successful  and  confident  business 
reconstruction  before  those  uncertainties  are  resolved. 

If  the  war  had  continued  it  would  have  been  neces- 
sary to  raise  at  least  eight  billion  dollars  by  taxation 
payable  in  the  year  1919 ;  but  the  war  has  ended  and  I 
agree  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  that  it  will 
be  safe  to  reduce  the  amount  to  six  billions.  An  imme- 
diate rapid  decline  in  the  expenses  of  the  Government 
is  not  to  be  looked  for.  Contracts  made  for  war  sup- 
plies will,  indeed,  be  rapidly  cancelled  and  liquidated, 
but  their  immediate  liquidation  will  make  heavy  drains 
on  the  Treasury  for  the  months  just  ahead  of  us.  The 
maintenance  of  our  forces  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea 
is  still  necessary.  A  considerable  proportion  of  those 


366  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

forces  must  remain  in  Europe  during  the  period  of 
occupation,  and  those  which  are  brought  home  will 
be  transported  and  demobilized  at  heavy  expense  for 
months  to  come.  The  interest  on  our  war  debt  must 
of  course  be  paid  and  provision  made  for  the  retirement 
of  the  obligations  of  the  Government  which  represent 
it.  But  these  demands  will  of  course  fall  much  below 
what  a  continuation  of  military  operations  would  have 
entailed  and  six  billions  should  suffice  to  supply  a 
sound  foundation  for  the  financial  operations  of  the 
year. 

I  entirely  concur  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
in  recommending  that  the  two  billions  needed  in  addi- 
tion to  the  four  billions  provided  by  existing  law  be 
obtained  from  the  profits  which  have  accrued  and  shall 
accrue  from  war  contracts  and  distinctively  war  busi- 
ness, but  that  these  taxes  be  confined  to  the  war  profits 
accruing  in  1918,  or  in  1919  from  business  originating 
in  war  contracts.  I  urge  your  acceptance  of  his  rec- 
ommendation that  provision  be  made  now,  not  subse- 
quently, that  the  taxes  to  be  paid  in  1920  should  be 
reduced  from  six  to  four  billions.  Any  arrangements 
less  definite  than  these  would  add  elements  of  doubt 
and  confusion  to  the  critical  period  of  industrial  read- 
justment through  which  the  country  must  now  imme- 
diately pass,  and  which  no  true  friend  of  the  nation's 
essential  business  interests  can  afford  to  be  responsible 
for  creating  or  prolonging.  Clearly  determined  con- 
ditions, clearly  and  simply  charted,  are  indispensable 
to  the  economic  revival  and  rapid  industrial  develop- 
ment which  may  confidently  be  expected  if  we  act 
now  and  sweep  all  interrogation  points  away. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  the  Congress  will  carry 
out  the  naval  program  which  was  undertaken  before 


GREAT  SPEECHES  867 

we  entered  the  war.  The  Secretary  of  the  Navy  has 
submitted  to  your  committees  for  authorization  that 
part  of  the  program  which  covers  the  building  plans 
of  the  next  three  years.  These  plans  have  been  pre- 
pared along  the  lines  and  in  accordance  with  the  policy 
which  the  Congress  established,  not  under  the  excep- 
tional conditions  of  the  war,  but  with  the  intention  of 
adhering  to  a  definite  method  of  development  for  the 
navy.  I  earnestly  recommend  the  uninterrupted  pur- 
suit of  that  policy.  It  would  clearly  be  unwise  for  us 
to  attempt  to  adjust  our  programs  to  a  future  world 
policy  as  yet  undetermined. 

The  question  which  causes  me  the  greatest  concern 
is  the  question  of  the  policy  to  be  adopted  towards  the 
railroads.  I  frankly  turn  to  you  for  counsel  upon  it. 
I  have  no  confident  judgment  of  my  own.  I  do  not 
see  how  any  thoughtful  man  can  have  who  knows 
anything  of  the  complexity  of  the  problem.  It  is  a 
problem  which  must  be  studied,  studied  immediately, 
and  studied  without  bias  or  prejudice.  Nothing  can 
be  gained  by  becoming  partisans  of  any  particular  plan 
of  settlement. 

It  was  necessary  that  the  administration  of  the  rail- 
ways should  be  taken  over  by  the  Government  so  long 
as  the  war  lasted.  It  would  have  been  impossible  other- 
wise to  establish  and  carry  through  under  a  single 
direction  the  necessary  priorities  of  shipment.  It  would 
have  been  impossible  otherwise  to  combine  maximum 
production  at  the  factories  and  mines  and  farms  with 
the  maximum  possible  car  supply  to  take  the  products 
to  the  ports  and  markets;  impossible  to  route  troop 
shipments  and  freight  shipments  without  regard  to 
the  advantage  or  disadvantage  of  the  roads  employed; 
impossible  to  subordinate,  when  necessary,  all  ques- 


PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

tions  of  convenience  to  the  public  necessity;  impos- 
sible to  give  the  necessary  financial  support  to  the 
roads  from  the  public  treasury.  But  all  these  necessi- 
ties have  now  been  served,  and  the  question  is,  what 
is  best  for  the  railroads  and  for  the  public  in  the  future. 

Exceptional  circumstances  and  exceptional  methods 
of  administration  were  not  needed  to  convince  us  that 
the  railroads  were  not  equal  to  the  immense  tasks  of 
transportation  imposed  upon  them  by  the  rapid  and 
continuous  development  of  the  industries  of  the  coun- 
try. We  knew  that  already.  And  we  knew  that  they 
were  unequal  to  it  partly  because  their  full  co-operation 
was  rendered  impossible  by  law  and  their  competition 
made  obligatory,  so  that  it  has  been  impossible  to  assign 
to  them  severally  the  traffic  which  could  best  be  carried 
by  their  respective  lines  in  the  interest  of  expedition 
and  national  economy. 

We  may  hope,  I  believe,  for  the  formal  conclusion 
of  the  war  by  treaty  by  the  time  Spring  has  come.  The 
twenty-one  months  to  which  the  present  control  of  the 
railways  is  limited  after  formal  proclamation  of  peace 
shall  have  been  made  will  run  at  the  farthest,  I  take 
it  for  granted,  only  to  the  January  of  1921.  The  full 
equipment  of  the  railways  which  the  federal  adminis- 
tration had  planned  could  not  be  completed  within  any 
such  period.  The  present  law  does  not  permit  the  use 
of  the  revenues  of  the  several  roads  for  the  execution 
of  such  plans  except  by  formal  contract  with  their 
directors,  some  of  whom  will  consent  while  some  will 
not,  and  therefore  does  not  afford  sufficient  authority 
to  undertake  improvements  upon  the  scale  upon  which 
it  would  be  necessary  to  undertake  them.  Every  ap- 
proach to  this  difficult  subject-matter  of  decision  brings 
us  face  to  face,  therefore,  with  this  unanswered  ques- 


GKEAT  SPEECHES  369 

tion:  "What  is  it  right  that  we  should  do  with  the 
railroads,  in  the  interest  of  the  public  and  in  fairness 
to  their  owners? 

Let  me  say  at  once  that  I  have  no  answer  ready.  The 
only  thing  that  is  perfectly  clear  to  me  is  that  it  is  not 
fair  either  to  the  public  or  to  the  owners  of  the  rail- 
roads to  leave  the  question  unanswered  and  that  it  will 
presently  become  my  duty  to  relinquish  control  of  the 
roads,  even  before  the  expiration  of  the  statutory 
period,  unless  there  should  appear  some  clear  prospect 
in  the  meantime  of  a  legislative  solution.  Their  release 
would  at  least  produce  one  element  of  a  solution, 
namely,  certainty  and  a  quick  stimulation  of  private 
initiative. 

I  believe  that  it  will  be  serviceable  for  me  to  set  forth 
as  explicitly  as  possible  the  alternative  courses  that  lie 
open  to  our  choice.  We  can  simply  release  the  roads 
and  go  back  to  the  old  conditions  of  private  manage- 
ment, unrestricted  competition,  and  multiform  regula- 
tion by  both  state  and  federal  authorities;  or  we  can 
go  to  the  opposite  extreme  and  establish  complete  gov- 
ernment control,  accompanied,  if  necessary,  by  actual 
government  ownership;  or  we  can  adopt  an  interme- 
diate course  of  modified  private  control,  under  a  more 
unified  and  affirmative  public  regulation  and  under 
such  alterations  of  the  law  as  will  permit  wasteful  com- 
petition to  be  avoided  and  a  considerable  degree  of 
unification  of  administration  to  be  effected,  as,  for  ex- 
ample, by  regional  corporations  under  which  the  rail- 
ways of  definable  areas  would  be  in  effect  combined  in 
single  systems. 

The  one  conclusion  that  I  am  ready  to  state  with 
confidence  is  that  it  would  be  a  disservice  alike  to  the 
country  and  to  the  owners  of  the  railroads  to  return 


370  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

to  the  old  conditions  unmodified.  Those  are  conditions 
of  restraint  without  development.  There  is  nothing 
affirmative  or  helpful  about  them.  What  the  country 
chiefly  needs  is  that  all  its  means  of  transportation 
should  be  developed,  its  railways,  its  waterways,  its 
highways,  and  its  countryside  roads.  Some  new  ele- 
ment of  policy,  therefore,  is  absolutely  necessary. — 
necessary  for  the  service  of  the  public,  necessary  for 
the  release  of  credit  to  those  who  are  administering 
the  railways,  necessary  for  the  protection  of  their  se- 
curity holders.  The  old  policy  may  be  changed  much 
or  little,  but  surely  it  cannot  wisely  be  left  as  it  was. 
I  hope  that  the  Congress  will  have  a  complete  and  im- 
partial study  of  the  whole  problem  instituted  at  once 
and  prosecuted  as  rapidly  as  possible.  I  stand  ready 
and  anxious  to  release  the  roads  from  the  present  con- 
trol and  I  must  do  so  at  a  very  early  date  if  by  waiting 
until  the  statutory  limit  of  time  is  reached  I  shall  be 
merely  prolonging  the  period  of  doubt  and  uncertainty 
which  is  hurtful  to  every  interest  concerned. 

I  welcome  this  occasion  to  announce  to  the  Congress 
my  purpose  to  join  in  Paris  the  representatives  of  the 
governments  with  which  we  have  been  associated  in 
the  war  against  the  Central  Empires  for  the  purpose  of 
discussing  with  them  the  main  features  of  the  treaty 
of  peace.  I  realize  the  great  inconveniences  that  will 
attend  my  leaving  the  country,  particularly  at  this 
time,  but  the  conclusion  that  it  was  my  paramount  duty 
to  go  has  been  forced  upon  me  by  considerations  which 
I  hope  will  seem  as  conclusive  to  you  as  they  have 
seemed  to  me. 

The  allied  governments  have  accepted  the  bases  of 
peace  which  I  outlined  to  the  Congress  on  the  eighth 
of  January  last,  as  the  Central  Empires  also  have,  and 


GREAT  SPEECHES  371 

very  reasonably  desire  my  personal  counsel  in  their 
interpretation  and  application,  and  it  is  highly  desir- 
able that  I  should  give  it  in  order  that  the  sincere  de- 
sire of  our  Government  to  contribute  without  selfish 
purpose  of  any  kind  to  settlements  that  will  be  of 
common  benefit  to  all  the  nations  concerned  may  be 
made  fully  manifest.  The  peace  settlements  which  are 
now  to  be  agreed  upon  are  of  transcendent  importance 
both  to  us  and  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  I  know  of 
no  business  or  interest  which  should  take  precedence 
of  them.  The  gallant  men  of  our  armed  forces  on  land 
and  sea  have  consciously  fought  for  the  ideals  which 
they  knew  to  be  the  ideals  of  their  country;  I  have 
sought  to  express  those  ideals;  they  have  accepted  my 
statements  of  them  as  the  substance  of  their  own 
thought  and  purpose,  as  the  associated  governments 
have  accepted  them;  I  owe  it  to  them  to  see  to  it,  so 
far  as  in  me  lies,  that  no  false  or  mistaken  interpre- 
tation is  put  upon  them,  and  no  possible  effort  omitted 
to  realize  them.  It  is  now  my  duty  to  play  my  full 
part  in  making  good  what  they  offered  their  life's 
blood  to  obtain.  I  can  think  of  no  call  to  service  which 
could  transcend  this. 

I  shall  be  in  close  touch  with  you  and  with  affairs  on 
this  side  the  water,  and  you  will  know  all  that  I  do. 
At  my  request,  the  French  and  English  governments 
have  absolutely  removed  the  censorship  of  cable  news 
which  until  within  a  fortnight  they  had  maintained 
and  there  is  now  no  censorship  whatever  exercised  at 
this  end  except  upon  attempted  trade  communications 
with  enemy  countries.  It  has  been  necessary  to  keep 
an  open  wire  constantly  available  between  Paris  and 
the  Department  of  State  and  another  between  France 
and  the  Department  of  War.  In  order  that  this  might 


372  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

be  done  with  the  least  possible  interference  with  the 
other  uses  of  the  cables,  I  have  temporarily  taken  over 
the  control  of  both  cables  in  order  that  they  may  be 
used  as  a  single  system.  I  did  so  at  the  advice  of  the 
most  experienced  cable  officials,  and  I  hope  that  the 
results  will  justify  my  hope  that  the  news  of  the  next 
few  months  may  pass  with  the  utmost  freedom  and 
with  the  least  possible  delay  from  each  side  of  the  sea 
to  the  other. 

May  I  not  hope,  Gentlemen  of  the  Congress,  that  in 
the  delicate  tasks  I  shall  have  to  perform  on  the  other 
side  of  the  sea,  in  my  efforts  truly  and  faithfully  to 
interpret  the  principles  and  purposes  of  the  country 
we  love,  I  may  have  the  encouragement  and  the  added 
strength  of  your  united  support  ?  I  realize  the  magni- 
tude and  difficulty  of  the  duty  I  am  undertaking ;  I  am 
poignantly  aware  of  its  grave  responsibilities.  I  am 
the  servant  of  the  nation.  I  can  have  no  private  thought 
or  purpose  of  my  own  in  performing  such  an  errand. 
I  go  to  give  the  best  that  is  in  me  to  the  common  set- 
tlements which  I  must  now  assist  in  arriving  at  in  con- 
ference with  the  other  working  heads  of  the  associated 
governments.  I  shall  count  upon  your  friendly  coun- 
tenance and  encouragement.  I  shall  not  be  inaccessible. 
The  cables  and  the  wireless  will  render  me  available 
for  any  counsel  or  service  you  may  desire  of  me,  and 
I  shall  be  happy  in  the  thought  that  I  am  constantly  in 
touch  with  the  weighty  matters  of  domestic  policy  with 
which  we  shall  have  to  deal.  I  shall  make  my  absence 
as  brief  as  possible  and  shall  hope  to  return  with  the 
happy  assurance  that  it  has  been  possible  to  translate 
into  action  the  great  ideals  for  which  America  has 
striven. 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  373 

PRESIDENT    WILSON'S    MOUNT    VER- 
NON  FOURTH  OF  JULY  SPEECH 

Including1  the  Four  Points  Supplementing  the 
Fourteen  Principles 

Gentlemen  of  the  Diplomatic  Corps  and  My  Fellow 
Citizens : 

I  am  happy  to  draw  apart  with  you  to  this  quiet 
place  of  old  counsel  in  order  to  speak  a  little  of  the 
meaning  of  this  day  of  our  nation's  independence.  The 
place  seems  very  still  and  remote.  It  is  as  serene  and 
untouched  by  the  hurry  of  the  world  as  it  was  in  those 
great  days  long  ago  when  General  Washington  was 
here  and  held  leisurely  conference  with  the  men  who 
were  to  be  associated  with  him  in  the  creation  of  a 
nation.  From  these  gentle  slopes  they  looked  out  upon 
the  world  and  saw  it  whole,  saw  it  with  the  light  of  the 
future  upon  it,  saw  it  with  modern  eyes  that  turned 
away  from  a  past  which  men  of  liberated  spirits  could 
no  longer  endure.  It  is  for  that  reason  that  we  cannot 
feel,  even  here,  in  the  immediate  presence  of  this  sacred 
tomb,  that  this  is  a  place  of  death.  It  was  a  place  of 
achievement.  A  great  promise  that  was  meant  for  all 
mankind  was  here  given  plan  and  reality.  The  asso- 
ciations by  which  we  are  here  surrounded  are  the  in- 
spiriting associations  of  that  noble  death  which  is  only 
a  glorious  consummation.  From  this  green  hillside  we 
also  ought  to  be  able  to  see  with  comprehending  eyes 
the  world  that  lies  about  us  and  should  conceive  anew 
the  purposes  that  must  set  men  free. 

It  is  significant, — significant  of  their  own  character 
and  purpose  and  of  the  influences  they  were  setting 
afoot, — that  Washington  and  his  associates,  like  the 


374  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

barons  at  Runnymede,  spoke  and  acted,  not  for  a  class, 
but  for  a  people.  It  has  been  left  for  us  to  see  to  it 
that  it  shall  be  understood  that  they  spoke  and  acted, 
not  for  a  single  people  only,  but  for  all  mankind.  They 
were  thinking,  not  of  themselves  and  of  the  material 
interests  which  centered  in  the  little  groups  of  land- 
holders and  merchants  and  men  of  affairs  with  whom 
they  were  accustomed  to  act,  in  Virginia  and  the  colo- 
nies to  the  north  and  south  of  her,  but  of  a  people 
which  wished  to  be  done  with  classes  and  special  in- 
terests and  the  authority  of  men  whom  they  had  not 
themselves  chosen  to  rule  over  them.  They  entertained 
no  private  purpose,  desired  no  peculiar  privilege.  They 
were  consciously  planning  that  men  of  every  class 
should  be  free  and  America  a  place  to  which  men  out 
of  every  nation  might  resort  who  wished  to  share  with 
them  the  rights  and  privileges  of  free  men.  And  we 
take  our  cue  from  them, — do  we  not  ?  We  intend  what 
they  intended.  We  here  in  America  believe  our  partici- 
pation in  this  present  war  to  be  only  the  fruitage  of 
what  they  planted.  Our  case  differs  from  theirs  only 
in  this,  that  it  is  our  inestimable  privilege  to  concert 
with  men  out  of  every  nation  what  shall  make  not  only 
the  liberties  of  America  secure  but  the  liberties  of  every 
other  people  as  well.  We  are  happy  in  the  thought  that 
we  are  permitted  to  do  what  they  would  have  done  had 
they  been  in  our  place.  There  must  now  be  settled 
once  for  all  what  was  settled  for  America  in  the  great 
age  upon  whose  inspiration  we  draw  today.  This  is 
surely  a  fitting  place  from  which  calmly  to  look  out 
upon  our  task,  that  we  may  fortify  our  spirits  for  its 
accomplishment.  And  this  is  the  appropriate  place 
from  which  to  avow,  alike  to  the  friends  who  look  on 
and  to  the  friends  with  whom  we  have  the  happiness 


GREAT  SPEECHES  375 

to  be  associated  in  action,  the  faith  and  purpose  with 
which  we  act. 

This,  then,  is  our  conception  of  the  great  struggle 
in  which  we  are  engaged.  The  plot  is  written  plain 
upon  every  scene  and  every  act  of  the  supreme  tragedy. 
On  the  one  hand  stand  the  peoples  of  the  world, — not 
only  the  peoples  actually  engaged,  but  many  others 
also  who  suffer  under  mastery  but  cannot  act;  peoples 
of  many  races  and  in  every  part  of  the  world, — the 
people  of  stricken  Russia  still,  among  the  rest,  though 
they  are  for  the  moment  unorganized  and  helpless. 
Opposed  to  them,  masters  of  many  armies,  stand  an 
isolated,  friendless  group  of  governments  who  speak 
no  common  purpose  but  only  selfish  ambitions  of  their 
own  by  which  none  can  profit  but  themselves,  and 
whose  peoples  are  fuel  in  their  hands;  governments 
which  fear  their  people  and  yet  are  for  the  time  their 
sovereign  lords,  making  every  choice  for  them  and  dis- 
posing of  their  lives  and  fortunes  as  they  will,  as  well 
as  of  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  every  people  who  fall 
under  their  power, — governments  clothed  with  the 
strange  trappings  and  the  primitive  authority  of  an 
age  that  is  altogether  alien  and  hostile  to  our  own. 
The  past  and  the  present  are  in  deadly  grapple  and  the 
peoples  of  the  world  are  being  done  to  death  between 
them. 

There  can  be  but  one  issue.  The  settlement  must 
be  final.  'There  can  be  no  compromise.  No  halfway 
decision  would  be  tolerable.  No  halfway  decision  is 
conceivable.  These  are  the  ends  for  which  the  asso- 
ciated peoples  of  the  world  are  fighting  and  which 
must  be  conceded  them  before  there  can  be  peace : 

I.  The  destruction  of  every  arbitrary  power  any- 
where that  can  separately,  secretly,  and  of  its  single 


376  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

choice  disturb  the  peace  of  the  world;  or,  if  it  cannot 
be  presently  destroyed,  at  the  least  its  reduction  to 
virtual  impotence. 

II.  The  settlement  of  every  question,  whether  of 
territory,  or  sovereignty,  of  economic  arrangement,  or 
of  political  relationship,  upon  the  basis  of  the  free  ac- 
ceptance of  that  settlement  by  the  people  immediately 
concerned,  and  not  upon  the  basis  of  the  material  in- 
terest or  advantage  of  any  other  nation  or  people  which 
may  desire  a  different  settlement  for  the  sake  of  its 
own  exterior  influence  or  mastery. 

III.  The  consent  of  all  nations  to  be  governed  in 
their  conduct  towards  each  other  by  the  same  princi- 
ples of  honor  and  of  respect  for  the  common  law  of 
civilized  society  that  govern  the  individual  citizens  of 
all  modern  states  in  their  relations  with  one  another; 
to  the  end  that  all  promises  and  covenants  may  be  sa- 
credly   observed,    no    private    plots    or    conspiracies 
hatched,  no  selfish  injuries  wrought  with  impunity,  and 
a  mutual  trust  established  upon  the  handsome  founda- 
tion of  a  mutual  respect  for  right. 

IV.  The  establishment  of  an  organization  of  peace 
which  shall  make  it  certain  that  the  combined  power  of 
free    nations    will  check  every  invasion  of  right  and 
serve  to  make  peace  and  justice  the  more  secure  by 
affording  a  definite  tribunal  of  opinion  to  which  all 
must  submit  and  by  which  every  international  read- 
justment that  cannot  be  amicably  agreed  upon  by  the 
peoples  directly  concerned  shall  be  sanctioned. 

These  great  objects  can  be  put  into  a  single  sentence. 
What  we  seek  is  the  reign  of  law,  based  upon  the  con- 
sent of  the  governed  and  sustained  by  the  organized 
opinion  of  mankind. 

These  great  ends  cannot  be  achieved  by  debating  and 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  377 

seeking  to  reconcile  and  accommodate  what  statesmen 
may  wish,  with  their  projects  for  balances  of  power 
and  of  national  opportunity.  They  can  be  realized  only 
by  the  determination  of  what  the  thinking  peoples  of 
the  world  desire,  with  their  longing  hope  for  justice 
and  for  social  freedom  and  opportunity. 

I  can  fancy  that  the  air  of  this  place  carries  the 
accents  of  such  principles  with  a  peculiar  kindness. 
Here  were  started  forces  which  the  great  nation  against 
which  they  were  primarily  directed  at  first  regarded  as 
a  revolt  against  its  rightful  authority  but  which  it  has 
long  since  seen  to  have  been  a  step  in  the  liberation 
of  its  own  people  as  well  as  the  people  of  the  United 
States ;  and  I  stand  here  now  to  speak, — speak  proudly 
and  with  confident  hope, — of  the  spread  of  this  revolt, 
this  liberation,  to  the  great  stage  of  the  world  itself! 
The  blinded  rulers  of  Prussia  have  roused  forces  they 
knew  little  of, — forces  which,  once  roused,  can  never 
be  crushed  to  earth  again ;  for  they  have  at  their  heart 
an  inspiration  and  a  purpose  which  are  deathless  and 
of  the  very  stuff  of  triumph ! 


378  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

ARMISTICE   TERMS  AND  THE   PRESI- 
DENT'S REMARKS 

Gentlemen  of  the  Congress: 

In  these  anxious  times  of  rapid  and  stupendous 
change  it  will  in  some  degree  lighten  my  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility to  perform  in  person  the  duty  of  commu- 
nicating to  you  some  of  the  larger  circumstances  of 
the  situation  with  which  it  is  necessary  to  deal. 

The  German  authorities  who  have,  at  the  invitation 
of  the  Supreme  War  Council,  been  in  communication 
with  Marshal  Foch  have  accepted  and  signed  the  terms 
of  armistice  which  he  was  authorized  and  instructed  to 
communicate  to  them.  Those  terms  are  as  follows: 

1.  Cessation  of  operations  by  land  and  in  the  air 
six  hours  after  the.  signature  of  the  armistice. 

2.  Immediate  evacuation  of  invaded  countries — Bel- 
gium, France,  Alsace-Lorraine,  Luxembourg,  so  ordered 
as  to  be  completed  within  fourteen  days  from  the  sig- 
nature of  the  armistice.    German  troops  which  have  not 
left  the  above  mentioned  territories  within  the  period 
fixed  will  become  prisoners  of  war.    Occupation  by  the 
Allied  and  United  States  forces  jointly  will  keep  pace 
with  evacuation  in  these   areas.     All  movements   of 
evacuation  and  occupation  will  be  regulated  in  ac- 
cordance with  a  note  annexed  to  the  stated  terms. 

3.  Repatriation  beginning  at  once  and  to  be  com- 
pleted within  fourteen  days  of  all  inhabitants  of  the 
countries  above  mentioned,  including  hostages  and  per- 
sons under  trial  or  convicted. 

4.  Surrender  in    good    condition   by   the    German 
armies  of  the  following  equipment:     Five  thousand 
guns  (two  thousand  five  hundred  heavy,  two  thousand 
five   hundred   field),   thirty   thousand   machine   guns; 


GREAT  SPEECHES  379 

three  thousand  minenwerfer,  two  thousand  aeroplanes 
(fighters,  bombers — firstly  D.  Seventy-three's  and  night 
bombing  machines).  The  above  to  be  delivered  in 
Simmstu  to  the  Allies  and  United  States  troops  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  detailed  conditions  laid  down  in  the 
annexed  note. 

5.  Evacuation  by  the  German  armies  of  the  coun- 
tries on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.    These  countries  on 
the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  shall  be  administered  by  the 
local  authorities  under  the  control  of  the  Allied  and 
United  States  armies  of  occupation.     The  occupation 
of  these  territories  will  be  determined  by  Allied  and 
United  States  garrisons  holding  the  principal  crossings 
of  the  Rhine,  Mayence,  Coblenz,  Cologne,  together  with 
bridgeheads  at  these  points  in  thirty  kilometer  radius 
on  the  right  bank  and  by  garrisons  similarly  holding 
the  strategic  points  of  the  regions.     A  neutral  zone 
shall  be  reserved  on  the  right  of  the  Rhine  between  the 
stream  and  a  line  drawn  parallel  to  it  forty  kilometers 
to  the  east  from  the  frontier  of  Holland  to  the  parallel 
of  Gernsheim  and  as  far  as  practicable  a  distance  of 
thirty  kilometers  from  the  east  of  stream  from  this 
parallel  upon  Swiss  frontier.    Evacuation  by  the  enemy 
of  the  Rhine  lands  shall  be  so  ordered  as  to  be  com- 
pleted within  a  further  period  of  eleven  days,  in  all 
nineteen  days  after  the  signature  of  the  armistice.    All 
movements  of  evacuation  and  occupation  will  be  regu- 
lated according  to  the  note  annexed. 

6.  In  all  territory  evacuated  by  the  enemy  there  shall 
be  no  evacuation  of  inhabitants;  no  damage  or  harm 
shall  be  done  to  the  persons  or  property  of  the  inhabi- 
tants.    No  destruction  of  any  kind  to  be  committed. 
Military  establishments  of  all  kinds  shall  be  delivered 
intact  as  well  as  military  stores  of  food,  munitions, 


380  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

equipment  not  removed  during  the  periods  fixed  for 
evacuation.  Stores  of  food  of  all  kinds  for  the  civil 
population,  cattle,  etc.,  shall  be  left  in  situ.  Industrial 
establishments  shall  not  be  impaired  in  any  way  and 
their  personnel  shall  not  be  moved.  Roads  and  means 
of  communication  of  every  kind,  railroad,  waterways, 
main  roads,  bridges,  telegraphs,  telephones,  shall  be  in 
no  manner  impaired. 

7.  All  civil  and  military  personnel  at  present  em- 
ployed on  them  shall  remain.     Five  thousand  locomo- 
tives, fifty  thousand  wagons  and  ten  thousand  motor 
lorries  in  good  working  order  with  all  necessary  spare 
parts  and  fittings  shall  be  delivered  to  the  Associated 
Powers  within  the  period  fixed  for  the  evacuation  of 
Belgium  and  Luxemburg.     The  railways    of    Alsace- 
Lorraine  shall  be  handed  over  within  the  same  period, 
together    with    all    pre-war    personnel    and    material. 
Further  material  necessary  for  the  working  of  railways 
in  the  country  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine  shall  be 
left  in  situ.    All  stores  of  coal  and  material  for  the  up- 
keep of  permanent  ways,  signals  and  repair  shops  left 
entire  in  situ  and  kept  in  an  efficient  state  by  Germany 
during  the  whole  period  of  armistice.    All  barges  taken 
from  the  Allies  shall  be  restored  to  them.    A  note  ap- 
pended regulates  the  details  of  these  measures. 

8.  The  German  command  shall  be  responsible  for  re- 
vealing all  mines  or  delay  acting  fuses  disposed  on  terri- 
tory evacuated  by  the  German  troops  and  shall  assist 
in  their  discovery  and  destruction.     The  German  com- 
mand shall  also  reveal  all  destructive  measures  that 
may  have  been  taken  (such  as  poisoning  or  polluting 
of  springs,  wells,  etc.),  under  penalty  of  reprisals. 

9.  The  right  of  requisition  shall  be  exercised  by  the 
Allied  and  the  United  States  armies  in  all  occupied 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  381 

territory.  The  up-keep  of  the  troops  of  occupation  in 
the  Rhine  land  (excluding  Alsace-Lorraine)  shall  be 
charged  to  the  German  Government. 

10.  An  immediate  repatriation  without  reciprocity, 
according  to  detailed  conditions  which  shall  be  fixed, 
of  all  Allied  and  United  States  prisoners  of  war.    The 
Allied  Powers  and  the  United  States  shall  be  able  to 
dispose  of  these  prisoners  as  they  wish. 

11.  Sick  and  wounded  who  cannot  be  removed  from 
evacuated  territory  will  be  cared  for  by  German  per- 
sonnel who  will  be  left  on  the  spot  with  the  medical 
material  required. 

12.  All  German  troops  at  present  in  any  territory 
which  before  the  war  belonged  to  Russia,  Roumania 
or  Turkey  shall  withdraw  within  the  frontiers  of  Ger- 
many as  they  existed  on  August  1,  1914. 

13.  Evacuation  by  German  troops  to  begin  at  once 
and  all  German  instructors,  prisoners,  and  civilian  as 
well  as  military  agents,  now  on  the  territory  of  Russia 
(as  defined  before  1914)  to  be  recalled. 

14.  German  troops  to  cease  at  once  all  requisitions 
and  seizures  and  any  other  undertaking  with  a  view  to 
obtaining  supplies  intended  for  Germany  in  Roumania 
and  Russia  (as  defined  on  August  1,  1914). 

15.  Abandonment  of  the  treaties  of  Bucharest  and 
Brest-Litovsk  and  of  the  supplementary  treaties. 

16.  The  Allies  shall  have  free  access  to  the  territories 
evacuated  by  the  Germans  on  their  eastern  frontier 
either  through  Danzig  or  by  the  Vistula  in  order  to  con- 
vey supplies  to  the  populations  of  those  territories  or 
for  any  other  purpose. 

17.  Unconditional  capitulation  of  all  German  forces 
operating  in  East  Africa  within  one  month. 

18.  Repatriation,  without  reciprocity,  within  a  maxi- 


382  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

mum  period  of  one  month,  in  accordance  with  detailed 
conditions  hereafter  to  be  fixed,  of  all  civilians  interned 
or  deported  who  may  be  citizens  of  other  Allied  or 
Associated  States  than  those  mentioned  in  clause  3, 
paragraph  19,  with  the  reservation  that  any  future 
claims  and  demands  of  the  Allies  and  the  United  States 
of  America  remain  unaffected. 

19.  The  following  financial  conditions  are  required : 
Reparation  for  damage  done.     While  such  armistice 
lasts  no  public  securities  shall  be  removed  by  the  enemy 
which  can  serve  as  a  pledge  to  the  Allies  for  the  re- 
covery or  repatriation  for  war  losses.    Immediate  resti- 
tution of  the  cash  deposit,  in  the  National  Bank  of  Bel- 
gium, and  in  general  immediate  return  of  all  documents, 
specie,  stocks,  shares,  paper  money  together  with  plant 
for  the  issue  thereof,  touching  public  or  private  inter- 
ests in  the  invaded  countries.    Restitution  of  the  Rus- 
sian and  Roumanian  gold  yielded  to  Germany  or  taken 
by  that  power.    This  gold  to  be  delivered  in  trust  to  the 
Allies  until  the  signature  of  peace. 

20.  Immediate  cessation  of  all  hostilities  at  sea  and 
definite  information  to  be  given  as  to  the  location  and 
movements  of  all  German  ships.     Notification  to  be 
given  to  neutrals  that  freedom  of  navigation  in  all  terri- 
torial waters  is  given  to  the  naval  and  mercantile  ma- 
rines of  the  Allied  and  Associated  Powers,  all  questions 
of  neutrality  being  waived. 

21.  All  naval  and  mercantile  marine  prisoners  of 
war  of  the  Allied  and  Associated  Powers  in  German 
hands  to  be  returned  without  reciprocity. 

22.  Surrender  to  the  Allies  and  the  United  States  of 
America  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  German  submarines 
(including  all  submarine  cruisers  and  mine  laying  sub- 
marines) with  their  complete  armament  and  equipment 


GREAT  SPEECHES  383 

in  ports  which  will  be  specified  by  the  Allies  and  the 
United  States  of  America.  All  other  submarines  to  be 
paid  off  and  completely  disarmed  and  placed  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Allied  Powers  and  the  United  States 
of  America. 

23.  The  following  German  surface  warships  which 
shall  be  designated  by  the  Allies  and  the  United  States 
of  America  shall  forthwith  be  disarmed  and  thereafter 
interned  in  neutral  ports,  or,  for  the  want  of  them,  in 
Allied  ports,  to  be  designated  by  the  Allies  and  the 
United  States  of  America  and  placed  under  the  surveil- 
lance of  the  Allies  and  the  United  States  of  America, 
only  caretakers  being  left  on  board,  namely :  Six  battle 
cruisers,  ten  battleships,  eight  light  cruisers,  including 
two  mine  layers,  fifty  destroyers  of  the  most  modern 
type.     All    other   surface   warships    (including   river 
craft)  are  to  be  concentrated  in  German  naval  bases 
to  be  designated  by  the  Allies  and  the  United  States 
of  America,  and  are  to  be  paid  off  and  completely  dis- 
armed and  placed  under  the  supervision  of  the  Allies 
and  the  United  States  of  America.    All  vessels  of  the 
auxiliary  fleet  (trawlers,  motor  vessels,  etc.)  are  to  be 
disarmed. 

24.  The  Allies  and  the  United  States  of  America 
shall  have  the  right  to  sweep  up  all  mine  fields  and 
obstructions  laid  by  Germany  outside  German  terri- 
torial waters,   and  the  positions  of  these   are  to  be 
indicated. 

25.  Freedom  of  access  to  and  from  the  Baltic  to 
be  given  to  the  naval  and  mercantile  marines  of  the 
Allied   and  Associated   Powers.     To   secure   this   the 
Allies  and  the  United  States  of  America  shall  be  em- 
powered to  occupy  all  German  forts,  fortifications,  bat- 
teries and  defense  works  of  all  kinds  in  all  the  entrances 


384  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

from  the  Categat  into  the  Baltic,  and  to  sweep  up  all 
mines  and  obstructions  within  and  without  German 
territorial  waters  without  any  question  of  neutrality 
being  raised,  and  the  positions  of  all  such  mines  and 
obstructions  are  to  be  indicated. 

26.  The  existing  blockade  conditions  set  up  by  the 
Allies  and  Associated  Powers  are  to  remain  unchanged 
and  all  German  merchant  ships  found  at  sea  are  to 
remain  liable  to  capture. 

27.  All  naval  aircraft  are  to  be  concentrated  and 
immobilized  in  German  bases  to  be  specified  by  the 
Allies  and  the  United  States  of  America. 

28.  In  evacuating  the   Belgian   coasts   and   ports, 
Germany  shall  abandon  all  merchant  ships,  tugs,  light- 
ers, cranes  and  all  other  harbor  materials,  all  mate- 
rials for  inland  navigation,  all  aircraft  and  all  materials 
and  stores,  all  arms  and  armaments,  and  all  stores  and 
apparatus  of  all  kinds. 

29.  All  Black  Sea  ports  are  to  be  evacuated  by  Ger- 
many ;  all  Russian  war  vessels  of  all  descriptions  seized 
by  Germany  in  the  Black  Sea  are  to  be  handed  over  to 
the  Allies  and  the  United  States  of  America ;  all  neutral 
merchant  vessels  seized  are  to  be  released ;  all  warlike 
and  other  materials  of  all  kinds  seized  in  those  ports 
are  to  be  returned  and  German  materials  as  specified  in 
clause  twenty-eight  are  to  be  abandoned. 

30.  All  merchant  vessels  in  German  hands  belonging 
to  the  Allied  and  Associated  Powers  are  to  be  restored 
in  ports  to  be  specified  by  the  Allies  and  the  United 
States  of  America  without  reciprocity. 

31.  No  destruction  of  ships  or  of  materials  to  be 
permitted  before  evacuation,  surrender  or  restoration. 

32.  The  German  Government  shall  formally  notify 
the  neutral  Governments  of  the  world,  and  particularly 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  385 

the  Governments  of  Norway,  Sweden,  Denmark  and 
Holland,  that  all  restrictions  placed  on  the  trading 
of  their  vessels  with  the  Allied  and  Associated  Coun- 
tries, whether  by  the  German  Government  or  by  private 
German  interests,  and  whether  in  return  for  specific 
concessions  such  as  the  export  of  shipbuilding  materials 
or  not,  are  immediately  canceled. 

33.  No  transfers  of  German  merchant  shipping  of 
any  description  to  any  neutral  flag  are  to  take  place 
after  signature  of  the  armistice. 

34.  The  duration  of  the  armistice  is  to  be  thirty  days, 
with  option  to  extend.    During  this  period,  on  failure 
of  execution  of  any  of  the  above  clauses,  the  armistice 
may  be  denounced  by  one  of  the  contracting  parties, 
on  forty-eight  hours  previous  notice. 

35.  This  armistice   to  be   accepted   or  refused  by 
Germany  within  seventy-two  hours  of  notification. 

The  war  thus  comes  to  an  end ;  for,  having  accepted 
these  terms  of  armistice,  it  will  be  impossible  for  the 
German  command  to  renew  it. 

It  is.  not  now  possible  to  assess  the  consequences  of 
this  great  consummation.  We  know  only  that  this 
tragical  war,  whose  consuming  flames  swept  from  one 
nation  to  another  until  all  the  world  was  on  fire,  is  at 
an  end  and  that  it  was  the  privilege  of  our  own  people 
to  enter  it  at  its  most  critical  juncture  in  such  fashion 
and  in  such  force  as  to  contribute  in  a  way  of  which 
we  are  all  deeply  proud  to  the  great  result.  We  know, 
too,  that  the  object  of  the  war  is  attained;  the  object 
upon  which  all  free  men  had  set  their  hearts;  and  at- 
tained with  a  sweeping  completeness  which  even  now 
we  do  not  realize.  Armed  imperialism  such  as  the  men 
conceived  who  were  but  yesterday  the  masters  of  Ger- 
many is  at  an  end,  its  illicit  ambitions  engulfed  in  black 


386  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

disaster.  Who  will  now  seek  to  revive  it?  The  arbi- 
trary power  of  the  military  caste  of  Germany  which 
once  could  secretly  and  of  its  own  single  choice  dis- 
turb the  peace  of  the  world  is  discredited  and  de- 
stroyed. And  more  than  that, — much  more  than  that, 
— has  been  accomplished.  The  great  nations  which 
associated  themselves  to  destroy  it  have  now  definitely 
united  in  the  common  purpose  to  set  up  such  a  peace 
as  will  satisfy  the  longing  of  the  whole  world  for  disin- 
terested justice,  embodied  in  settlements  which  are 
based  upon  something  much  better  and  much  more 
lasting  than  the  selfish  competitive  interests  of  power- 
ful states.  There  is  no  longer  conjecture  as  to  the  ob- 
jects the  victors  have  in  mind.  They  have  a  mind  in 
the  matter,  not  only,  but  a  heart  also.  Their  avowed 
and  concerted  purpose  is  to  satisfy  and  protect  the 
weak  as  well  as  to  accord  their  just  rights  to  the 
strong. 

The  humane  temper  and  intention  of  the  victorious 
governments  has  already  been  manifested  in  a  very 
practical  way.  Their  representatives  in  the  Supreme 
War  Council  at  Versailles  have  by  unanimous  resolu- 
tion assured  the  peoples  of  the  Central  Empires  that 
everything  that  is  possible  in  the  circumstances  will 
be  done  to  supply  them  with  food  and  relieve  the  dis- 
tressing want  that  is  in  so  many  places  threatening 
their  very  lives ;  and  steps  are  to  be  taken  immediately 
to  organize  these  efforts  at  relief  in  the  same  sys- 
tematic manner  that  they  were  organized  in  the  case 
of  Belgium.  By  the  use  of  the  idle  tonnage  of  the  Cen- 
tral Empires  it  ought  presently  to  be  possible  to  lift 
the  fear  of  utter  misery  from  their  oppressed  popula- 
tions and  set  their  minds  and  energies  free  for  the 
great  and  hazardous  tasks  of  political  reconstruction 


GREAT  SPEECHES  387 

which  now  face  them  on  every  hand.  Hunger  does 
not  breed  reform;  it  breeds  madness  and  all  the  ugly 
distempers  that  make  an  ordered  life  impossible. 

For  with  the  fall  of  the  ancient  governments  which 
rested  like  an  incubus  upon  the  peoples  of  the  Central 
Empires  has  come  political  change  not  merely,  but 
revolution;  and  revolution  which  seems  as  yet  to  as- 
sume no  final  and  ordered  form  but  to  run  from  one 
fluid  change  to  another,  until  thoughtful  men  are  forced 
to  ask  themselves,  With  what  governments,  and  of  what 
sort,  are  we  about  to  deal  in  the  making  of  the  cove- 
nants of  peace?  With  what  authority  will  they  meet 
us,  and  with  what  assurance  that  their  authority  will 
abide  and  sustain  securely  the  international  arrange- 
ments into  which  we  are  about  to  enter?  There  is 
here  matter  for  no  small  anxiety  and  misgiving.  When 
peace  is  made,  upon  whose  promises  and  engagements 
besides  our  own  is  it  to  rest  ? 

Let  us  be  perfectly  frank  with  ourselves  and  admit 
that  these  questions  cannot  be  satisfactorily  answered 
now  or  at  once.  But  the  moral  is  not  that  there  is 
little  hope  of  an  early  answer  that  will  suffice.  It  is 
only  that  we  must  be  patient  and  helpful  and  mindful 
above  all  of  the  great  hope  and  confidence  that  lie  at 
the  heart  of  what  is  taking  place.  Excesses  accom- 
plish nothing.  Unhappy  Russia  has  furnished  abun- 
dant recent  proof  of  that.  Disorder  immediately  de- 
feats itself.  If  excesses  should  occur,  if  disorder  should 
for  a  time  raise  its  head,  a  sober  second  thought  will 
follow  and  a  day  of  constructive  action,  if  we  help  and 
do  not  hinder. 

The  present  and  all  that  it  holds  belongs  to  the  na- 
tions and  the  peoples  who  preserve  their  self-control 
and  the  orderly  processes  of  their  governments;  the 


388  PBESIDENT  WILSON'S 

future  to  those  who  prove  themselves  the  true  friends 
of  mankind.  To  conquer  with  arms  is  to  make  only  a 
temporary  conquest;  to  conquer  the  world  by  earning 
its  esteem  is  to  make  permanent  conquest.  I  am  con- 
fident that  the  nations  that  have  learned  the  disci- 
pline of  freedom  and  that  have  settled  with  self-pos- 
session to  its  ordered  practice  are  now  about  to  make 
conquest  of  the  world  by  the  sheer  power  of  example 
and  of  friendly  helpfulness. 

The  peoples  who  have  but  just  come  out  from  under 
the  yoke  of  arbitrary  government  and  who  are  now 
coming  at  last  into  their  freedom  will  never  find  the 
treasures  of  liberty  they  are  in  search  of  if  they  look 
for  them  by  the  light  of  the  torch.  They  will  find  that 
every  pathway  that  is  stained  with  the  blood  of  their 
own  brothers  leads  to  the  wilderness,  not  to  the  seat 
of  their  hope.  They  are  now  face  to  face  with  their 
initial  test.  We  must  hold  the  light  steady  until  they 
find  themselves.  And  in  the  meantime,  if  it  be  possible, 
we  must  establish  a  peace  that  will  justly  define  their 
place  among  the  nations,  remove  all  fear  of  their  neigh- 
bors and  of  their  former  masters,  and  enable  them  to 
live  in  security  and  contentment  when  they  have  set 
their  own  affairs  in  order.  I,  for  one,  do  not  doubt 
their  purpose  or  their  capacity.  There  are  some  happy 
signs  that  they  know  and  will  choose  the  way  of  self- 
control  and  peaceful  accommodation.  If  they  do,  we 
shall  put  our  aid  at  their  disposal  in  every  way  that 
we  can.  If  they  do  not,  we  must  await  with  patience 
and  sympathy  the  awakening  and  recovery  that  will 
assuredly  come  at  last. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  389 

THE  FIVE   FUNDAMENTALS  FOR 
A  LEAGUE  OF  NATIONS 

My  Fellow  Citizens: 

I  am  not  here  to  promote  the  loan.  That  will  be 
done, — ably  and  enthusiastically  done, — by  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  loyal  and  tireless  men  and  women 
who  have  undertaken  to  present  it  to  you  and  to  our 
fellow  citizens  throughout  the  country;  and  I  have  not 
the  least  doubt  of  their  complete  success;  for  I  know 
their  spirit  and  the  spirit  of  the  country.  My  confi- 
dence is  confirmed,  too,  by  the  thoughtful  and  expe- 
rienced cooperation  of  the  bankers  here  and  every- 
where, who  are  lending  their  invaluable  aid  and  guid- 
ance. I  have  come,  rather,  to  seek  an  opportunity 
to  present  to  you  some  thoughts  which  I  trust  will 
serve  to  give  you,  in  perhaps  fuller  measure  than  be- 
fore, a  vivid  sense  of  the  great  issues  involved,  in  order 
that  you  may  appreciate  and  accept  with  added  en- 
thusiasm the  grave  significance  of  the  duty  of  support- 
ing the  Government  by  your  men  and  your  means  to 
the  utmost  point  of  sacrifice  and  self-denial.  No  man 
or  woman  who  has  really  taken  in  what  this  war  means 
can  hesitate  to  give  to  the  very  limit  of  what  they 
have ;  and  it  is  my  mission  here  tonight  to  try  to  make 
it  clear  once  more  what  the  war  really  means.  You  will 
need  no  other  stimulation  or  reminder  of  your  duty. 

At  every  turn  of  the  war  we  gain  a  fresh  conscious- 
ness of  what  we  mean  to  accomplish  by  it.  When  our 
hope  and  expectation  are  most  excited  we  think  more 
definitely  than  before  of  the  issues  that  hang  upon  it 
and  of  the  purposes  which  must  be  realized  by  means 
of  it.  For  it  has  positive  and  well  defined  purposes 


390  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

which  we  did  not  determine  and  which  we  cannot  alter. 
No  statesman  or  assembly  created  them;  no  statesmen 
or  assembly  can  alter  them.  They  have  arisen  out  of 
the  very  nature  and  circumstances  of  the  war.  The 
most  that  statesmen  or  assemblies  can  do  is  to  carry 
them  out  or  be  false  to  them.  They  were  perhaps  not 
clear  at  the  outset;  but  they  are  clear  now.  The  war 
has  lasted  more  than  four  years  and  the  whole  world 
has  been  drawn  into  it.  The  common  will  of  mankind 
has  been  substituted  for  the  particular  purposes  of 
individual  states.  Individual  statesmen  may  have 
started  the  conflict,  but  neither  they  nor  their  op- 
ponents can  stop  it  as  they  please.  It  has  become  a 
people's  war,  and  peoples  of  all  sorts  and  races,  of 
every  degree  of  power  and  variety  of  fortune,  are  in- 
volved in  its  sweeping  processes  of  change  and  settle- 
ment. We  came  into  it  when  its  character  had  become 
fully  defined  and  it  was  plain  that  no  nation  could  stand 
apart  or  be  indifferent  to  its  outcome.  Its  challenge 
drove  to  the  heart  of  everything  we  cared  for  and 
lived  for.  The  voice  of  the  war  had  become  clear  and 
gripped  our  hearts.  Our  brothers  from  many  lands, 
as  well  as  our  own  murdered  dead  under  the  sea, 
were  calling  to  us,  and  we  responded,  fiercely  and  of 
course. 

The  air  was  clear  about  us.  "We  saw  things  in  their 
full,  convincing  proportions  as  they  were ;  and  we  have 
seen  them  with  steady  eyes  and  unchanging  compre- 
hension ever  since.  We  accepted  the  issues  of  the  war 
as  facts,  not  as  any  group  of  men  either  here  or  else- 
where had  defined  them,  and  we  can  accept  no  outcome 
which  does  not  squarely  meet  and  settle  them.  Those 
issues  are  these : 

Shall  the  military  power  of  any  nation  or  group  of 


GREAT  SPEECHES  391 

nations  be  suffered  to  determine  the  fortunes  of  peoples 
over  whom  they  have  no  right  to  rule  except  the  right 
of  force  ? 

Shall  strong  nations  be  free  to  wrong  weak  nations 
and  make  them  subject  to  their  purpose  and  interest? 

Shall  peoples  be  ruled  and  dominated,  even  in  their 
own  internal  affairs,  by  arbitrary  and  irresponsible 
force  or  by  their  own  will  and  choice. 

Shall  there  be  a  common  standard  of  right  and  privi- 
lege for  all  peoples  and  nations  or  shall  the  strong  do 
as  they  will  and  the  weak  suffer  without  redress  ? 

Shall  the  assertion  of  right  be  haphazard  and  by 
casual  alliance  or  shall  there  be  a  common  concert  to 
oblige  the  observance  of  common  rights? 

No  man,  no  group  of  men,  chose  these  to  be  the  issues 
of  the  struggle.  They  are  the  issues  of  it;  and  they 
must  be  settled, — by  no  arrangement  or  compromise 
or  adjustment  of  interests,  but  definitely  and  once 
for  all  and  with  a  full  and  unequivocal  acceptance  of 
the  principle  that  the  interest  of  the  weakest  is  as  sa- 
cred as  the  interest  of  the  strongest. 

This  is  what  we  mean  when  we  speak  of  a  permanent 
peace,  if  we  speak  sincerely,  intelligently,  and  with  a 
real  knowledge  and  comprehension  of  the  matter  we 
deal  with. 

We  are  all  agreed  that  there  can  be  no  peace  obtained 
by  any  kind  of  bargain  or  compromise  with  the  gov- 
ernments of  the  Central  Empires,  because  we  have 
dealt  with  them  already  and  have  seen  them  deal  with 
other  governments  that  were  parties  to  this  struggle, 
at  Brest-Litovsk  and  Bucharest.  They  have  convinced 
us  that  they  are  without  honor  and  do  not  intend  jus- 
tice. They  observe  no  covenants,  accept  no  principle 
but  force  and  their  own  interest.  We  cannot  "come 


392  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

to  terms"  with  them.  They  have  made  it  impossible. 
The  German  people  must  by  this  time  be  fully  aware 
that  we  cannot  accept  the  word  of  those  who  forced 
this  war  upon  us.  We  do  not  think  the  same  thoughts 
or  speak  the  same  language  of  agreement. 

It  is  of  capital  importance  that  we  should  also  be 
explicitly  agreed  that  no  peace  shall  be  obtained  by 
any  kind  of  compromise  or  abatement  of  the  princi- 
ples we  have  avowed  as  the  principles  for  which  we 
are  fighting.  There  should  exist  no  doubt  about  that. 
I  am,  therefore,  going  to  take  the  liberty  of  speaking 
with  the  utmost  frankness  about  the  practical  implica- 
tions that  are  involved  in  it. 

If  it  be  in  deed  and  in  truth  the  common  object  of 
the  governments  associated  against  Germany  and  of 
the  nations  whom  they  govern,  as  I  believe  it  to  be,  to 
achieve  by  the  coming  settlements  a  secure  and  lasting 
peace,  it  will  be  necessary  that  all  who  sit  down  at 
the  peace  table  shall  come  ready  and  willing  to  pay  the 
price,  the  only  price,  that  will  procure  it;  and  ready 
and  willing,  also,  to  create  in  some  virile  fashion  the 
only  instrumentality  by  which  it  can  be  made  certain 
that  the  agreements  of  the  peace  will  be  honored  and 
fulfilled. 

That  price  is  impartial  justice  in  every  item  of  the 
settlement,  no  matter  whose  interest  is  crossed;  and 
not  only  impartial  justice  but  also  the  satisfaction  of 
the  several  peoples  whose  fortunes  are  dealt  with.  That 
indispensable  instrumentality  is  a  League  of  Nations 
formed  under  covenants  that  will  be  efficacious. 
Without  such  an  instrumentality,  by  which  the  peace  of 
the  world  can  be  guaranteed,  peace  will  rest  in  part 
upon  the  word  of  outlaws  and  only  upon  that  word. 
For  Germany  will  have  to  redeem  her  character,  not 


GREAT  SPEECHES  393 

by  what  happens  at  the  peace  table  but  by  what 
follows. 

And,  as  I  see  it,  the  constitution  of  that  League  of 
Nations  and  the  clear  definition  of  its  objects  must 
be  a  part,  is  in  a  sense  the  most  essential  part,  of  the 
peace  settlement  itself.  It  cannot  be  formed  now.  If 
formed  now,  it  would  be  merely  a  new  alliance  con- 
fined to  the  nations  associated  against  a  common  enemy. 
It  is  not  likely  that  it  could  be  formed  after  the  settle- 
ment. It  is  necessary  to  guarantee  the  peace ;  and  the 
peace  cannot  be  guaranteed  as  an  afterthought.  The 
reason,  to  speak  in  plain  terms  again,  why  it  must 
be  guaranteed  is  that  there  will  be  parties  to  the  peace 
whose  promises  have  proved  untrustworthy,  and  means 
must  be  found  in  connection  with  the  peace  settlement 
itself  to  remove  that  source  of  insecurity.  It  would 
be  folly  to  leave  the  guarantee  to  the  subsequent  volun- 
tary action  of  the  Governments  we  have  seen  destroy 
Russia  and  deceive  Roumania. 

But  these  general  terms  do  not  disclose  the  whole 
matter.  Some  details  are  needed  to  make  them  sound 
less  like  a  thesis  and  more  like  a  practical  programme. 
These,  then,  are  some  of  the  particulars,  and  I  state 
them  with  the  greater  confidence  because  I  can  state 
them  authoritatively  as  representing  this  Govern- 
ment's interpretation  of  its  own  duty  with  regard  to 
peace : 

First,  the  impartial  justice  meted  out  must  involve 
no  discrimination  between  those  to  whom  we  wish  to 
be  just  and  those  to  whom  we  do  not  wish  to  be  just. 
It  must  be  a  justice  that  plays  no  favorites  and  knows 
no  standard  but  the  equal  rights  of  the  several  peoples 
concerned ; 

Second,  no  special  or  separate  interest  of  any  single 


394  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

nation  or  any  group  of  nations  can  be  made  the  basis 
of  any  part  of  the  settlement  which  is  not  consistent 
with  the  common  interest  of  all; 

Third,  there  can  be  no  leagues  or  alliances  or  special 
covenants  and  understandings  within  the  general  and 
common  family  of  the  League  of  Nations ; 

Fourth,  and  more  specifically,  there  can  be  no  spe- 
cial, selfish  economic  combinations  within  the  League 
and  no  employment  of  any  form  of  economic  boycott 
or  exclusion  except  as  the  power  of  economic  penalty 
by  exclusion  from  the  markets  of  the  world  may  be 
vested  in  the  League  of  Nations  itself  as  a  means  of 
discipline  and  control; 

Fifth,  all  international  agreements  and  treaties  of 
every  kind  must  be  made  known  in  their  entirely  to 
the  rest  of  the  world. 

Special  alliances  and  economic  rivalries  and  hostili- 
ties have  been  the  prolific  source  in  the  modern  world 
of  the  plans  and  passions  that  produce  war.  It  would 
be  an  insincere  as  well  as  insecure  peace  that  did  not 
exclude  them  in  definite  and  binding  terms. 

The  confidence  with  which  I  venture  to  speak  for 
our  people  in  these  matters  does  not  spring  from  our 
traditions  merely  and  the  well  known  principles  of 
international  action  which  we  have  always  professed 
and  followed.  In  the  same  sentence  in  which  I  say 
that  the  United  States  will  enter-  into  no  special  ar- 
rangements or  understandings  with  particular  nations 
let  me  say  also  that  the  United  States  is  prepared  to 
assume  its  full  share  of  responsibility  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  common  covenants  and  understandings 
upon  which  peace  must  henceforth  rest.  We  still  read 
Washington's  immortal  warning  against  "entangling 
alliances"  with  full  comprehension  and  an  answering 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  395 

purpose.  But  only  special  and  limited  alliances  en- 
tangle ;  and  we  recognize  and  accept  the  duty  of  a  new 
day  in  which  we  are  permitted  to  hope  for  a  general 
alliance  which  will  avoid  entanglements  and  clear 
the  air  of  the  world  for  common  understandings  and 
the  maintenance  of  common  rights. 

I  have  made  this  analysis  of  the  international  situa- 
tion which  the  war  has  created,  not,  of  course,  because 
I  doubted  whether  the  leaders  of  'the  great  nations 
and  peoples  with  whom  we  are  associated  were  of  the 
same  mnid  and  entertained  a  like  purpose,  but  because 
the  air  every  now  and  again  gets  darkened  by  mists 
and  groundless  doubtings  and  mischievous  perversions 
of  counsel  and  it  is  necessary  once  and  again  to  sweep 
all  the  irresponsible  talk  about  peace  intrigues  and 
weakening  morale  and  doubtful  purpose  on  the  part 
of  those  in  authority  utterly,  and  if  need  be  uncere- 
moniously, aside  and  say  things  in  the  plainest  words 
that  can  be  found,  even  when  it  is  only  to  say  over 
again  what  has  been  said  before,  quite  as  plainly  if 
in  less  unvarnished  terms. 

As  I  have  said,  neither  I  nor  any  other  man  in  gov- 
ernmental authority  created  or  gave  form  to  the  issues 
of  this  war.  I  have  simply  responded  to  them  with  such 
vision  as  I  could  command.  But  I  have  responded 
gladly  and  with  a  resolution  that  has  grown  warmer 
and  more  confident  as  the  issues  have  grown  clearer 
and  clearer.  It  is  now  plain  that  they  are  issues  which 
no  man  can  pervert  unless  it  be  wilfully.  I  am  bound 
to  fight  for  them,  and  happy  to  fight  for  them  as  time 
and  circumstance  have  revealed  them  to  me  as  to  all 
the  world.  Our  enthusiasm  for  them  grows  more  and 
more  irresistible  as  they  stand  out  in  more  and  more 
vivid  and  unmistakable  outline. 


396  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

And  the  forces  that  fight  for  them  draw  into  closer 
and  closer  array,  organize  their  millions  into  more  and 
more  unconquerable  might,  as  they  become  more  and 
more  distinct  to  the  thought  and  purpose  of  the  peo- 
ples engaged.  It  is  the  peculiarity  of  this  great  war 
that  while  statesmen  have  seemed  to  cast  about  for 
definitions  of  their  purpose  and  have  sometimes  seemed 
to  shift  their  ground  and  their  point  of  view,  the 
thought  of  the  mass  of  men,  whom  statesmen  are  sup- 
posed to  instruct  and  lead,  has  grown  more  and  more 
unclouded,  more  and  more  certain  of  what  it  is  that 
they  are  fighting  for.  National  purposes  have  fallen 
more  and  more  into  the  background  and  the  common 
purpose  of  enlightened  mankind  has  taken  their  place. 
The  counsels  of  plain  men  have  become  on  all  hands 
more  simple  and  straightforward  and  more  unified  than 
the  counsels  of  sophisticated  men  of  affairs,  who  still 
retain  the  impression  that  they  are  playing  a  game  of 
power  and  playing  for  high  stakes.  That  is  why  I 
have  said  that  this  is  a  peoples'  war,  not  a  statesmen's. 
Statesmen  must  follow  the  clarified  common  thought 
or  be  broken. 

I  take  that  to  be  the  significance  of  the  fact  that  as- 
semblies and  associations  of  many  kinds  made  up  of 
plain  workaday  people  have  demanded,  almost  every 
time  they  came  together,  and  are  still  demanding,  that 
the  leaders  of  their  governments  declare  to  them  plainly 
what  it  is,  exactly  what  it  is,  that  they  were  seeking 
in  this  war,  and  what  they  think  the  items  of  the 
final  settlement  should  be.  They  are  not  yet  satisfied 
with  what  they  have  been  told.  They  still  seem  to  fear 
that  they  are  getting  what  they  ask  for  only  in  states- 
men's terms, — only  in  the  terms  of  territorial  arrange- 
ments and  divisions  of  power,  and  not  in  terms  of 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  397 

broad-visioned  justice  and  mercy  and  peace  and  the 
satisfaction  of  those  deepseated  longings  of  oppressed 
and  distracted  men  and  women  and  enslaved  peoples 
that  seem  to  them  the  only  things  worth  fighting  a  war 
for  that  engulfs  the  world.  Perhaps  statesmen  have 
not  always  recognized  this  changed  aspect  of  the  whole 
world  of  policy  and  action.  Perhaps  they  have  not 
always  spoken  in  direct  reply  to  the  questions  asked 
because  they  did  not  know  how  searching  those  ques- 
tions were  and  what  sort  of  answers  they  demanded. 
But  I,  for  one,  am  glad  to  attempt  the  answer  again 
and  again,  in  the  hope  that  I  may  make  it  clearer  and 
clearer  that  my  one  thought  is  to  satisfy  those  who 
struggle  in  the  ranks  and  are,  perhaps  above  all  others, 
entitled  to  a  reply  whose  meaning  no  one  can  have 
any  excuse  for  misunderstanding,  if  he  understands 
the  language  in  which  it  is  spoken  or  can  get  someone 
to  translate  it  correctly  into  his  own.  And  I  believe 
that  the  leaders  of  the  governments  with  which  we 
are  associated  will  speak,  as  they  have  occasion,  as 
plainly  as  I  have  tried  to  speak.  I  hope  that  they  will 
feel  free  to  say  whether  they  think  that  I  am  in  any 
degree  mistaken  in  my  interpretation  of  the  issues  in- 
volved or  in  my  purpose  with  regard  to  the  means  by 
which  a  satisfactory  settlement  of  those  issues  may  be 
obtained.  Unity  of  purpose  and  of  counsel  are  as  im- 
peratively necessary  in  this  war  as  was  unity  of  com- 
mand in  the  battlefield ;  and  with  perfect  unity  of  pur- 
pose and  counsel  will  come  assurance  of  complete  vic- 
tory. It  can  be  had  in  no  other  way.  "Peace  drives" 
can  be  effectively  neutralized  and  silenced  only  by 
showing  that  every  victory  of  the  nations  associated 
against  Germany  brings  the  nations  nearer  the  sort  of 
peace  which  will  bring  security  and  reassurance  to  all 


398  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

peoples  and  make  the  recurrence  of  another  such  strug- 
gle of  pitiless  force  and  bloodshed  forever  impossible, 
and  that  nothing  else  can.  Germany  is  constantly  inti- 
mating the  "terms"  she  will  accept;  and  always  finds 
that  the  world  does  not  want  terms.  It  wishes  the  final 
triumph  of  justice  and  fair  dealing. 


GEBAT  SPEECHES  .        399 

WILSON   TO   ITALY 

"All  United  on  World  League  to  Keep  Peace" 

Your  Majesty  and  Mr.  President  of  the  Chamber: 

You  are  bestowing  upon  me  an  unprecedented  honor 
which  I  accept  because  I  believe  that  it  is  extended 
to  me  as  the  representative  of  the  great  people  for 
whom  I  speak.  And  I  am  going  to  take  this  first  oppor- 
tunity to  say  how  entirely  the  heart  of  the  American 
people  has  been  with  the  great  people  of  Italy. 

We  have  seemed,  no  doubt,  indifferent  at  times,  to 
look  from  a  great  distance,  but  our  hearts  have  never 
been  far  away.  All  sorts  of  ties  have  long  bound  the 
people  of  our  America  to  the  people  of  Italy,  and  when 
the  people  of  the  United  States,  knowing  this  people, 
have  witnessed  its  sufferings,  its  sacrifices,  its  heroic 
actions  upon  the  battlefield  and  its  heroic  endurance 
at  home — its  steadfast  endurance  at  home  touching  us 
more  nearly  to  the  quick  even  than  its  heroic  action  on 
the  battlefield — we  have  been  bound  by  a  new  tie  of 
profound  admiration. 

Then  back  of  it  all,  and  through  it  all,  running  like 
the  golden  thread  that  wove  it  together,  was  our  knowl- 
edge that  the  people  of  Italy  had  gone  into  this  war 
for  the  same  exalted  principle  of  right  and  justice 
that  moved  our  own  people.  And  so  I  welcome  this 
opportunity  of  conveying  to  you  the  heartfelt  greetings 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

But  we  cannot  stand  in  the  shadow  of  this  war  with- 
out knowing  there  are  things  which  are  in  some  senses 
more  difficult  than  those  we  have  undertaken,  because, 
while  it  is  easy  to  speak  of  right  and  justice,  it  is  some- 
times difficult  to  work  them  out  in  practice,  and  there 


400  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

will  be  required  a  purity  of  motives  and  disinterested- 
ness of  object  which  the  world  has  never  witnessed  be- 
fore in  the  councils  of  nations. 

It  is  for  that  reason  that  it  seems  to  me  you  will 
forgive  me  if  I  lay  some  of  the  elements  of  the  new 
situation  before  you  for  a  moment. 

The  distinguishing  fact  of  this  war  is  that  great 
empires  have  gone  to  pieces.  And  the  characteristics 
of  those  empires  are  that  they  held  different  peoples 
reluctantly  together  under  the  coercion  of  force  and 
the  guidance  of  intrigue. 

The  great  difficulty  among  such  states  as  those  of  the 
Balkans  has  been  that  they  were  always  accessible 
to  secret  influence,  and  they  were  always  being  pene- 
trated by  intrigue  of  some  sort  or  another;  that  north 
of  them  lay  disturbed  populations  which  were  held 
together  not  by  sympathy  and  friendship  but  by  the 
coercive  force  of  a  military  power. 

Now  the  intrigue  is  checked  and  the  bands  are 
broken,  and  what  we  are  going  to  provide  is  a  new 
cement  to  hold  the  people  together.  They  have  not 
been  accustomed  to  being  independent.  They  must 
now  be  independent. 

I  am  sure  that  you  recognize  the  principle  as  I  do — 
that  it  is  not  our  privilege  to  say  what  sort  of  a  govern- 
ment they  should  set  up.  But  we  are  friends  of  those 
people,  and  it  is  our  duty  as  their  friends  to  see  to  it 
that  some  kind  of  protection  is  thrown  around  them — 
something  supplied  which  will  hold  them  together. 

There  is  only  one  thing  that  holds  nations  together, 
if  you  exclude  force,  and  that  is  friendship  and  good 
will.  The  only  thing  that  binds  men  together  is  friend- 
ship, and  by  the  same  token  the  only  thing  that  bids 
nations  together  is  friendship.  Therefore,  our  task  at 


GREAT  SPEECHES  401 

Paris  is  to  organize  the  friendship  of  the  world — to  see 
to  it  that  all  the  moral  forces  that  make  for  right  and 
justice  and  liberty  are  united  and  are  given  a  vital 
organization  to  which  the  peoples  of  the  world  will 
readily  and  gladly  respond. 

In  other  words,  our  task  is  no  less  colossal  than  this : 
To  set  up  a  new  international  psychology;  to  have  a 
new  real  atmosphere. 

I  am  happy  to  say  that  in  my  dealings  with  the  dis- 
tinguished gentlemen  who  lead  your  nation,  and  those 
who  lead  France  and  England,  I  feel  that  atmosphere 
gathering,  that  desire  to  do  justice,  that  desire  to  estab- 
lish friendliness,  that  desire  to  make  peace  rest  upon 
right,  and  with  this  common  purpose  no  obstacles  need 
be  formidable. 

The  only  use  of  an  obstacle  is  to  be  overcome.  All 
that  an  obstacle  does  with  brave  men  is  not  to  frighten 
them,  but  to  challenge  them.  So  that  it  ought  to  be  our 
pride  to  overcome  everything  that  stands  in  the  way. 

We  know  that  there  cannot  be  another  balance  of 
power.  That  has  been  tried  and  found  wanting,  for 
the  best  of  all  reasons,  that  it  does  not  stay  balanced 
inside  itself,  and  a  weight  which  does  not  hold  together 
cannot  constitute  a  make-weight  in  the  affairs  of  men. 

Therefore  there  must  be  something  substituted  for 
the  balance  of  power,  and  I  am  happy  to  find  every- 
where in  the  air  of  these  great  nations  the  conception 
that  that  thing  must  be  a  thoroughly  united  league  of 
nations. 

What  men  once  considered  theoretical  and  idealistic 
turns  out  to  be  practical  and  necessary.  We  stand  at 
the  opening  of  a  new  age,  in  which  a  new  statesman- 
ship will,  I  am  confident,  lift  mankind  to  new  levels  of 
endeavor  and  achievements. 


402  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

(During  his  speech  the  President  constantly  was  in- 
terrupted by  outbursts  of  applause,  and  when  he  ended 
he  received  cheers  which  lasted  until  he  passed  through 
the  exit  of  the  building.  Outside  the  throngs  in  the 
street  took  up  the  demonstration,  which  continued 
until  the  doors  of  the  Quirinal  closed  behind  Mr. 
Wilson.) 


GREAT  SPEECHES  403 

THE  PRESIDENT'S  PAEIS  SPEECH 

Paris,  France,  Dec.  14,  1918. 

President  and  Mme.  Poincare  gave  a  luncheon  at  the 
Palace  de  1'Elysee  in  honor  of  President  and  Mrs.  Wil- 
son. President  Wilson  on  this  occasion  spoke  as  fol- 
lows, in  replying  to  an  address  by  President  Poincare : 
Mr.  President: 

I  am  deeply  indebted  to  you  for  your  gracious  greet- 
ing. It  is  very  delightful  to  find  myself  in  France  and 
to  feel  the  quick  contact  of  sympathy  and  unaffected 
friendship  between  the  representatives  of  the  United 
States  and  the  representatives  of  France. 

You  have  been  very  generous  in  what  you  were 
pleased  to  say  about  myself,  but  I  feel  that  what  I  have 
said  and  what  I  have  tried  to  do  have  been  said  and 
done  only  in  an  attempt  to  speak  the  thought  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  truly  and  to  carry  that 
thought  out  in  action. 

From  the  first  the  thought  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States  turned  toward  something  more  than  the  mere 
winning  of  this  war.  It  turned  to  the  establishment 
of  eternal  principles  of  right  and  justice.  It  realized 
that  merely  to  win  the  war  was  not  enough ;  that  it  must 
be  won  in  such  a  way  and  the  questions  raised  by  it 
settled  in  such  a  way  as  to  insure  the  future  peace  of 
the  world  and  lay  the  foundations  for  the  freedom 
and  happiness  of  its  many  peoples  and  nations. 

Never  before  has  war  worn  so  terrible  a  visage  or 
exhibited  more  grossly  the  debasing  influence  of  illicit 
ambitions.  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  look  upon  the  ruin 
wrought  by  the  armies  of  the  central  empires  with  the 
same  repulsion  and  deep  indignation  that  they  stir  in 


404  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

the  hearts  of  the  men  of  France  and  Belgium  and  I  ap- 
preciate as  you  do,  sir,  the  necessity  of  such  action  in 
the  final  settlement  of  the  issues  of  the  war  as  not  only 
will  rebuke  such  acts  of  terror  and  spoliation,  but 
make  men  everywhere  aware  that  they  cannot  be  ven- 
tured upon  without  the  certainty  of  just  punishment. 

I  know  with  what  ardor  and  enthusiasm  the  soldiers 
and  sailors  of  the  United  States  have  given  the  best 
that  was  in  them  in  this  war  of  redemption.  They 
have  expressed  the  true  spirit  of  America.  They  be- 
lieve their  ideals  to  be  acceptable  to  free  peoples  every- 
where and  are  rejoiced  to  have  played  the  part  they 
have  played  in  giving  reality  to  those  ideals  in  co-oper- 
ation with  the  armies  of  the  allies. 

We  are  proud  of  the  part  they  have  played  and  we 
are  happy  that  they  should  have  been  associated  with 
such  comrades  in  a  common  cause. 

It  will  daily  be  a  matter  of  pleasure  with  me  to  be 
myself  in  France,  joining  with  you  in  rejoicing  over 
the  victory  that  has  been  won.  The  ties  that  bind 
France  and  the  United  States  are  peculiarly  close.  I 
do  not  know  in  what  other  comradeship  we  could  have 
fought  with  more  zest  or  enthusiasm. 

It  will  daily  be  a  matter  of  pleasrue  with  me  to  be 
brought  into  consultation  with  the  statesmen  of  France 
and  her  allies  in  concerting  the  measures  by  which  we 
may  secure  permanence  for  these  happy  relations  of 
friendship  and  co-operation  and  secure  for  the  world 
at  large  such  safety  and  freedom  in  its  life  as  can  be 
secured  only  by  the  constant  association  and  co-opera- 
tion of  friends. 

I  greet  you,  not  only  with  deep  personal  respect,  but 
as  the  representative  of  the  great  people  of  France, 
and  beg  to  bring  you  the  greetings  of  another  great 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  405 

people  to  whom  the  fortunes  of  France  are  of  profound 
and  lasting  interest. 

I  raise  my  glass  to  the  health  of  the  president  of  the 
French  republic  and  to  Mme.  Poincare  and  the  prosper- 
ity of  France. 

In  his  address  to  President  Wilson,  President  Poin- 
care said : 
Mr.  President : 

Paris  and  France  awaited  you  with  impatience.  They 
were  eager  to  acclaim  in  you  the  illustrious  democrat 
whose  words  and  deeds  were  inspired  by  exalted 
thought,  the  philosopher  delighting  in  the  solution  of 
universal  laws  from  particular  events,  the  eminent 
statesman  who  had  found  a  way  to  express  the  highest 
political  and  moral  truths  in  formulas,  which  bear  the 
stamp  of  immortality. 

They  had  also  a  passionate  desire  to  offer  thanks, 
in  your  person,  to  the  great  republic  of  which  you  are 
the  chief,  for  the  invaluable  assistance  which  had  been 
given  spontaneously,  during  this  war,  to  the  defenders 
of  right  and  liberty. 

Even  before  America  had  resolved  to  intervene  in 
the  struggle  she  had  shown  for  the  wounded  and  or- 
phans of  France  a  solicitude  and  a  generosity  the  mem- 
ory of  which  will  always  be  enshrined  in  our  hearts. 

The  liberality  of  your  Red  Cross,  the  countless  gifts 
of  your  fellow  citizens,  the  inspiring  initiative  of  Amer- 
ican women,  anticipated  your  military  and  naval  ac- 
tion and  showed  the  world  to  which  side  your  sympa- 
thies inclined.  And,  on  the  day  when  you  flung  your- 
selves into  the  battle,  with  what  determination  your 
great  people  and  yourself  prepared  for  united  success. 

Some  months  ago  you  cabled  to  me  that  the  United 
States  would  send  ever  increasing  forces  until  the  day 


406  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

should  be  reached  on  which  the  allies'  armies  were  able 
to  submerge  the  enemy  under  an  overwhelming  flow 
of  new  divisions  and  in  effect  for  more  than  a  year  a 
steady  stream  of  youth  and  energy  has  been  poured 
out  upon  the  shores  of  Prance. 

No  sooner  had  they  landed  than  your  gallant  bat- 
talions, fired  by  their  chief,  General  Pershing,  flung 
themselves  into  the  combat  with  such  a  manly  con- 
tempt of  danger,  such  a  smiling  disregard  of  death, 
that  our  longer  experience  of  this  terrible  war  often 
moved  us  to  counsel  prudence.  They  brought  with 
them,  in  arriving  here,  the  enthusiasm  of  crusaders 
leaving  for  the  holy  land. 

It  is  their  right  today  to  look  with  pride  upon  the 
work  accomplished  and  to  feel  assured  that  they  have 
powerfully  aided  by  their  courage  and  their  faith. 

Eager  as  they  were  to  meet  the  enemy,  they  did  not 
know  when  they  arrived  the  enormity  of  his  crimes. 
That  they  might  know  how  the  German  armies  make 
war  it  has  been  necessary  that  they  see  towns  sys- 
tematically burned  down,  mines  flooded,  factories  re- 
duced to  ashes,  orchards  devastated,  cathedrals  shelled 
and  fired — all  that  deliberated  savagery  aimed  to  de- 
stroy national  wealth,  nature  and  beauty,  which  the 
imagination  could  not  conceive  at  a  distance  from  the 
men  and  things  that  have  endured  it  and  today  bear 
witness  to  it. 

You,  Mr.  President,  will  be  able  to  measure  with  your 
own  eyes  the  extent  of  the  disasters,  and  the  French 
government  will  make  known  to  you  the  authentic  doc- 
uments in  which  the  German  general  staff  developed 
with  astounding  cynicism  its  program  of  pillage  and 
industrial  annihilation.  Your  noble  conscience  will 
pronounce  a  verdict  on  these  facts. 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  407 

Should  this  guilt  remain  unpunished,  could  it  be  re- 
newed, the  most  splendid  victories  would  be  in  vain. 

Mr.  President,  France  has  struggled,  has  endured  and 
has  suffered  during  four  long  years ;  she  has  bled  at 
every  vein;  she  has  lost  the  best  of  her  children;  she 
mourns  for  her  youths.  She  yearns  now,  even  as  you 
do,  for  a  peace  of  justice  and  security. 

It  was  not  that  she  might  be  exposed  once  again  to 
aggression  that  she  submitted  to  such  sacrifices.  Nor 
was  it  in  order  that  criminals  should  go  unpunished, 
that  they  might  lift  their  heads  again  to  make  ready 
for  new  crimes,  that  under  your  strong  leadership 
America  armed  herself  and  crossed  the  ocean. 

Faithful  to  the  memory  of  Lafayette  and  Rocham- 
beau,  she  came  to  the  aid  of  France  because  France 
herself  was  faithful  to  her  traditions.  Our  common 
ideal  has  triumphed.  Together  we  have  defended  the 
vital  principles  of  free  nations. 

Now  we  must  build  together  such  a  peace  as  will 
forbid  the  deliberate  and  hypocritical  renewing  of  an 
organism  aiming  at  conquest  and  oppression. 

Peace  must  make  amends  for  the  misery  and  sadness 
of  yesterday  and  it  must  be  a  guaranty  against  the 
dangers  of  tomorrow.  The  association  which  has  been 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  war  between  the  United 
States  and  the  allies,  and  which  contains  the  seed  of 
the  permanent  institutions  of  which  you  have  spoken 
so  eloquently,  will  find  from  this  day  forward  a  clear 
and  profitable  employment  in  the  concerted  search  for 
equitable  decisions,  and  in  the  mutual  support  which 
we  need  if  we  are  to  make  our  rights  prevail. 

"Whatever  safeguards  we  may  erect  for  the  future 
no  one,  alas,  can  assert  that  we  shall  forever  spare  to 
mankind  the  horrors  of  new  wars.  Five  years  ago  the 


408  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

progress  of  science  and  the  state  of  civilization  might 
have  permitted  the  hope  that  no  government,  however 
autocratic,  would  have  succeeded  in  hurling  armed 
nations  upon  Belgium  and  Serbia. 

Without  lending  ourselves  to  the  illusion  that  pos- 
terity will  be  forever  more  safe  from  these  collective 
follies,  we  must  introduce  into  the  peace  we  are  going 
to  build  up  all  the  conditions  of  justice  and  all  the 
safeguards  of  civilization  that  we  can  put  in  it. 

To  such  a  vast  and  magnificent  task,  Mr.  President, 
you  have  chosen  to  come  and  apply  yourself  in  concert 
with  France.  France  offers  you  her  thanks.  She 
knows  the  friendship  of  America.  She  knows  your 
rectitude  and  elevation  of  spirit.  It  is  in  the  fullest 
confidence  that  she  is  ready  to  work  with  you. 

I  lift  my  glass,  Mr.  President,  in  your  honor  and  in 
honor  of  Mrs.  Wilson.  I  drink  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
republic  of  the  United  States,  our  great  friend  of  yes- 
terday and  of  other  days,  of  tomorrow  and  of  all  time ! 


GREAT  SPEECHES  409 

PRESIDENT  IN  ADDRESS  TO  TROOPS 
AT  CHAUMONT  PRAISES  WORK 

Chaumont,  Prance,  Dec.  25, 1918. 

President  Wilson  in  addressing  the  American  soldiers 
today  said  that  he  did  not  find  in  the  hearts  of  the  great 
leaders  with  whom  he  was  co-operating  any  difference 
of  principle  or  of  fundamental  purpose.  President  Wil- 
son said: 

General  Pershing  and  Fellow  Comrades : 

I  wish  that  I  could  give  to  each  one  of  you  the  message 
that  I  know  you  are  longing  to  receive  from  those  at 
home  who  love  you.  I  cannot  do  that,  but  I  can  tell 
you  how  every  one  has  put  his  heart  into  it.  So  you 
have  done  your  duty  and  something  more.  You  have 
done  your  duty  and  you  have  done  it  with  a  spirit 
which  gave  it  distinction  and  glory. 

And  now  we  are  to  hail  the  fruits  of  everything. 
You  conquered,  when  you  came  over,  what  you  came 
over  for  and  you  have  done  what  it  was  appointed  for 
you  to  do.  I  know  what  you  expected  of  me. 

Some  time  ago  a  gentleman  from  one  of  the  coun- 
tries with  which  we  are  associated  was  discussing  with 
me  the  moral  aspects  of  this  war,  and  I  said  that  if 
we  did  not  insist  upon  the  high  purpose  which  we 
have  accomplished  the  end  would  not  be  justified. 

Everybody  at  home  is  proud  of  you  and  has  followed 
every  movement  of  this  great  army  with  confidence 
and  affection. 

The  whole  people  of  the  United  States  are  now  wait- 
ing to  welcome  you  home  with  an  acclaim  which  prob- 
ably has  never  greeted  any  other  army,  because  our 


410  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

country  is  like  this  country,  we  have  been  so  proud  of 
the  stand  taken,  of  the  purpose  for  which  this  war 
was  entered  by  the  United  States. 

You  knew  what  we  expected  of  you,  and  you  did  it. 
I  know  what  you  and  the  people  at  home  expected  of 
me;  and  I  am  happy  to  say,  my  fellow  countrymen, 
that  I  do  not  find  in  the  hearts  of  the  great  leaders 
with  whom  it  is  my  privilege  now  to  co-operate  any 
difference  of  principle  or  of  fundamental  purpose. 

It  happened  that  it  was  the  privilege  of  America  to 
present  the  chart  for  peace,  and  now  the  process  of- 
settlement  has  been  made  comparatively  simple  by  the 
fact  that  all  the  nations  concerned  have  accepted  that 
chart,  and  the  application  of  these  principles  laid  down 
there  will  be  their  application. 

The  world  will  now  know  that  the  nations  that  fought 
this  war,  as  well  as  the  soldiers  who  represented  them, 
are  ready  to  make  good,  make  good  not  only  in  the  as- 
sertion of  their  own  interests,  but  make  good  in  the 
establishment  of  peace  upon  the  permanent  foundation 
of  right  and  of  justice. 

Because  this  is  not  a  war  in  which  the  soldiers  of 
the  free  nations  have  obeyed  masters.  You  have  com- 
manders, but  you  have  no  masters.  Your  very  com- 
manders represent  you  in  representing  the  nation,  of 
which  you  constitute  so  distinguished  a  part. 

And  everybody  concerned  in  the  settlement  knows 
that  it  must  be  a  people 's  peace  and  that  nothing  must 
be  done  in  the  settlement  of  the  issues  of  the  war  which 
is  not  as  handsome  as  the  great  achievements  of  the 
armies  of  the  United  States  and  the  allies. 

It  is  difficult,  very  difficult,  men,  in  any  normal 
speech  like  this,  to  show  you  my  real  heart.  You  men 
probably  do  not  realize  with  what  anxious  attention 


GREAT  SPEECHES         •  411 

and  care  we  have  followed  every  step  you  have  ad- 
vanced and  how  proud  we  are  that  every  step  was  in 
advance  and  not  in  retreat;  that  every  time  you  set 
your  face  in  any  direction  you  kept  your  face  in  that 
direction. 

A  thrill  has  gone  through  my  heart  as  it  has  gone 
through  the  hearts  of  every  American,  with  almost 
every  gun  that  was  fired  and  every  stroke  that  was 
struck  in  the  gallant  fighting  that  you  have  done,  and 
there  has  been  only  one  regret  in  America,  and  that 
was  the  regret  that  every  man  there  felt  that  he  was 
not  over  there  in  Prance,  too. 

It  has  been  a  hard  thing  to  perform  the  tasks  in  the 
United  States ;  it  has  been  a  hard  thing  to  take  part  in 
directing  what  you  did  without  coming  over  and  help- 
ing you  to  do  it.  It  has  taken  a  lot  of  moral  courage 
to  stay  at  home. 

But  we  are  proud  to  back  you  up  everywhere  that 
it  was  possible  to  back  you  up.  And  now  I  am  happy 
to  find  what  splendid  names  you  have  made  for  your- 
self among  the  civilian  population  of  Prance  as  well  as 
among  your  comrades  in  the  armies  of  the  French, 
and  it  is  a  fine  testimony  to  you  men  that  these  people 
like  you  and  love  you  and  trust  you,  and  the  finest 
part  of  it  all  is  that  you  deserve  their  trust. 

I  feel  a  comradeship  with  you  today  which  is  delight- 
ful, as  I  look  down  upon  these  undisturbed  fields  and 
think  of  the  terrible  scenes  through  which  you  have 
gone  and  realize  how  the  quiet  of  peace,  the  tran- 
quillity of  settled  hopes  has  descended  upon  us.  And, 
while  it  is  hard  far  away  from  home  confidently  to  bid 
you  a  merry  Christmas,  I  can,  I  think,  confidently 
promise  you  a  happy  New  Year,  and  I  can  from  the  bot- 
tom of  my  heart  say  God  bless  you. 


412  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

PRESIDENT  WILSON'S  LONDON 
SPEECH 

London,  Dec.  28,  1918. 
Mr.  Lord  Mayor: 

We  have  come  upon  times  when  ceremonies  like  this 
have  a  new  significance  which  most  profoundly  im- 
presses me  as  I  stand  here.  The  address  which  I  have 
just  heard  is  most  generously  and  graciously  conceived, 
and  the  delightful  accent  of  sincerity  in  it  seems  like 
a  part  of  that  voice  of  counsel  which  is  now  every- 
where to  be  heard. 

I  feel  that  a  distinguished  honor  has  been  conferred 
upon  me  by  this  reception,  and  I  beg  to  assure  you, 
sir,  and  your  associates,  of  my  very  profound  apprecia- 
tion, but  I  know  that  I  am  only  a  part  of  what  I  may 
call  a  great  body  of  circumstances. 

I  do  not  believe  that  it  was  fancy  on  my  part  that 
I  heard  in  the  voice  of  welcome  uttered  in  the  streets 
of  this  great  city  and  in  the  streets  of  Paris  something 
more  than  a  personal  welcome.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
I  heard  the  voice  of  one  people  speaking  to  another 
people,  and  it  was  a  voice  in  which  one  could  distin- 
guish a  singular  combination  of  emotions. 

There  was  surely  there  the  deep  gratefulness  that 
the  fighting  was  over.  There  was  the  pride  that  the 
fighting  had  had  such  a  culmination.  There  was  that 
sort  of  gratitude  that  the  nation  engaged  had  produced 
such  men  as  the  soldiers  of  Great  Britain  and  of  the 
United  States  and  of  France  and  of  Italy — men  whose 
prowess  and  achievements  they  had  witnessed  with  ris- 
ing admiration  as  they  moved  from  culmination  to 
culmination. 


GREAT  SPEECHES  413 

But  there  was  something  more  in  it — the  conscious- 
ness that  the  business  is  not  yet  done,  the  consciousness 
that  it  now  rests  upon  others  to  see  that  those 
lives  were  not  lost  in  vain. 

I  have  not  yet  been  to  the  actual  battlefield,  but  I 
have  been  with  many  of  the  men  who  have  fought  the 
battles,  and  the  other  day  I  had  the  pleasure  of  being 
present  at  a  session  of  the  French  Academy  when  they 
admitted  Marshal  Joffre  to  their  membership.  That 
sturdy,  serene  soldier  stood  and  uttered,  not  the  words 
of  triumph,  but  summed  up  in  a  sentence  which  I  will 
not  try  accurately  to  quote,  but  reproduce  in  spirit. 

It  was  that  France  must  always  remember  that  the 
small  and  the  weak  could  never  live  free  in  the  world 
unless  the  strong  and  the  great  always  put  their  power 
and  their  strength  in  the  service  of  right. 

That  is  the  afterthought — the  thought  that  some- 
thing must  be  done  now;  not  only  to  make  the  just 
settlements — that  of  course — but  to  see  that  the  set- 
tlements remained  and  were  observed  and  that  honor 
and  justice  prevails  in  the  world. 

And  as  I  have  conversed  with  the  soldiers  I  have 
been  more  and  more  aware  that  they  fought  for  some- 
thing that  not  all  of  them  had  defined,  but  which  all 
of  them  recognized  the  moment  you  stated  it  to  them. 

They  fought  to  do  away  with  an  old  order  and  to 
establish  a  new  one,  and  the  center  and  characteristic 
of  the  old  order  was  that  unstable  thing  which  we 
used  to  call  the  " balance  of  power,"  a  thing  in  which 
the  balance  was  determined  by  the  sword  which  was 
thrown  in  on  the  one  side  or  the  other,  a  balance  which 
was  determined  by  the  unstable  equilibrium  of  com- 
petitive interests,  a  balance  which  was  maintained  by 
jealous  watchfulness  and  an  antagonism  of  interests 


414  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

which,  though  it  was  generally  latent,  was  always 
deep  seated. 

The  men  who  have  fought  in  this  war  have  been  the 
men  from  the  free  nations  who  are  determined  that 
that  sort  of  thing  should  end  now  and  forever.  It  is 
very  interesting  to  me  to  observe  how  from  every  quar- 
ter, from  every  sort  of  mind,  from  every  concert  of 
counsel  there  comes  the  suggestion  that  there  must 
now  be  not  a  balance  of  power,  not  one  powerful  group 
of  nations  set  up  against  another,  but  a  single,  over- 
whelming, powerful  group  of  nations  who  shall  be  the 
trust  of  the  peace  of  the  world. 

It  has  been  delightful  in  my  conferences  with  the 
leaders  of  your  government  to  find  how  our  minds 
moved  along  exactly  the  same  line  and  how  our  thought 
was  always  that  the  key  to  the  peace  was  the  guaran- 
tee of  the  peace,  not  the  items  of  it;  that  the  items 
would  be  worthless  unless  there  stood  back  of  them  a 
permanent  concert  of  power  for  their  maintenance. 
That  is  the  most  reassuring  thing  that  has  ever  hap- 
pened in  the  world. 

When  this  war  began  the  thought  of  a  league  of  na- 
tions was  indulgently  considered  as  the  interesting 
thought  of  closeted  students.  It  was  thought  of  as  one 
of  those  things  that  it  was  right  to  characterize  by  a 
name  which,  as  a  university  man,  I  have  always  re- 
sented. It  was  said  to  be  academic,  as  if  that  in  itself 
were  a  condemnation — something  that  men  could  think 
about  but  never  get. 

Now  we  find  the  practical  leading  minds  of  the  world 
determined  to  get  it. 

No  such  sudden  and  potent  union  of  purpose  has 
ever  been  witnessed  in  the  world  before.  Do  you  won- 
der, therefore,  gentlemen,  that  in  common  with  those 


GREAT  SPEECHES  415 

who  represent  you  I  am  eager  to  get  at  the  business  and 
write  the  sentences  down?  And  that  I  am  particularly 
happy  that  the  ground  is  cleared  and  the  foundation 
laid — for  we  have  already  accepted  the  same  body  of 
principles.  Those  principles  are  clearly  and  definitely 
enough  stated  to  make  their  application  a  matter  which 
should  afford  no  fundamental  difficulty. 

And  back  of  us  is  that  imperative  yearning  of  the 
world  to  have  all  disturbing  questions  quieted,  to  have 
all  threats  against  peace  silenced,  to  have  just  men 
everywhere  come  together  for  a  common  object. 

The  peoples  of  the  world  want  peace  and  they  want 
it  now,  not  merely  by  conquest  of  arms  but  by  agree- 
ment of  mind. 

It  was  this  incomparably  great  object  that  brought 
me  overseas. 

It  has  never  before  been  deemed  excusable  for  a 
President  of  the  United  States  to  leave  the  territory  of 
the  United  States,  but  I  know  that  I  have  the  support 
of  the  judgment  of  my  colleagues  in  the  government  of 
the  United  States  in  saying  that  it  was  my  paramount 
duty  to  turn  away  even  from  the  imperative  tasks  at 
home  to  lend  such  counsel  and  aid  as  I  could  to  this 
great,  may  I  not  say  final,  enterprise  of  humanity. 
Mr.  Lord  Mayor,  Your  Royal  Highness,  Your  Grace, 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

You  have  again  made  me  feel,  sir,  the  very  wonderful 
and  generous  welcome  of  this  great  city  and  you  have 
reminded  me  of  what  has  perhaps  become  one  of  the 
habits  of  my  life. 

You  have  said  that  I  have  broken  all  precedents  in 
coming  across  the  ocean  to  join  in  the  counsels  of  the 
peace  conference,  but  I  think  those  who  have  been  asso- 
ciated with  me  in  Washington  will  testify  that  that  is 


416  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

nothing  surprising.  I  said  to  the  members  of  the  press 
in  Washington  one  evening  that  one  of  the  things  that 
had  interested  me  most  since  I  lived  in  Washington 
was  that  every  time  I  did  anything  perfectly  natural 
it  was  said  to  be  unprecedented. 

It  was  perfectly  natural  to  break  this  precedent, 
natural  because  the  demand  for  intimate  conference 
took  precedence  over  every  other  duty.  And,  after  all, 
the  breaking  of  precedents,  though  this  may  sound 
strange  doctrine  in  England,  is  the  most  sensible  thing 
to  do.  The  harness  of  precedent  is  sometimes  a  very 
sad  and  harassing  trammel. 

In  this  case  the  breaking  of  precedent  is  sensible  for 
a  reason  that  is  very  prettily  illustrated  in  a  remark 
attributed  to  Charles  Lamb.  One  evening  in  a  com- 
pany of  his  friends  they  were  discussing  a  person  who 
was  not  present  and  Lamb  said,  in  his  hesitating  man- 
ner, "I  h-hate  that  fellow."  "Why,  Charles,"  one  of 
his  friends  said,  ' '  I  did  not  know  that  you  knew  him. ' ' 
"Oh,"  he  said,  "I,  I,  I  d-don't.  I  c-can't  h-hate  a  man 
I  know." 

And  perhaps  that  simple  and  attractive  remark  may 
furnish  a  secret  for  cordial  international  relationship. 
When  we  know  one  another  we  cannot  hate  one  an- 
other. 

I  have  been  very  much  interested  before  coming  here 
to  see  what  sort  of  a  person  I  was  expected  to  be.  So 
far  as  I  can  make  out,  I  was  expected  to  be  a  perfectly 
bloodless  thinking  machine,  whereas  I  am  perfectly 
aware  that  I  have  in  me  all  the  insurgent  elements  of 
the  human  race.  I  am  sometimes,  by  reason  of  long 
Scotch  tradition,  able  to  keep  these  instincts  in  re- 
straint. The  stern  covenanter  tradition  that  is  behind 
me  sends  many  an  echo  down  the  years.  It  is  not  only 


GREAT  SPEECHES  417 

diligently  to  pursue  business,  but  also  to  seek  this  sort 
of  comradeship,  that  I  feel  it  is  a  privilege  to  have 
come  across  the  seas  and,  in  the  welcome  that  you  have 
accorded  Mrs.  Wilson  and  me,  you  have  'made  us  feel 
that  companionship  was  accessible  to  us  in  the  most 
delightful  and  enjoyable  form. 

I  thank  you  sincerely  for  this  welcome,  sir,  and  am 
very  happy  to  join  in  a  love  feast  which  is  all  the  more 
enjoyable  because  there  is  behind  it  a  background  of 
tragical  suffering.  Our  spirits  are  released  from  the 
darkness  of  the  clouds  that  at  one  time  seemed  to  have 
settled  upon  the  world  in  a  way  that  could  not  be  dis- 
persed, the  sufferings  of  your  own  people,  the  suffering 
of  the  people  of  France,  and  the  infinite  suffering  of  the 
people  of  Belgium.  The  whisper  of  grief  that  has  been 
blown  all  through  the  world  is  now  silent  and  the  sun 
of  hope  seems  to  spread  its  rays  and  to  change  the 
earth  with  a  new  prospect  of  happiness.  So,  our  joy 
is  all  the  more  elevated  because  we  know  that  our 
spirits  are  now  lifted  out  of  that  valley. 


418  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

LEAGUE  OR  REBELLION,  WILSON 
WARNS 

Governor  Coolidge,  Mr.  Mayor,  Fellow  Citizens : 

I  wonder  if  you  are  half  as  glad  to  see  me  as  I  am  to 
see  you.  It  warms  my  heart  to  see  a  great  body  of  my 
fellow  citizens  again,  because  in  some  respects  during 
the  recent  months  I  have  been  very  lonely  indeed  with- 
out your  comradeship  and  counsel,  and  I  tried  at  every 
step  of  the  work  which  fell  to  me  to  recall  what  I  was 
sure  would  be  your  counsel  with  regard  to  the  great 
matters  which  were  under  consideration. 

I  do  not  want  you  to  think  that  I  have  not  been  ap- 
preciative of  the  extraordinarily  generous  reception 
which  was  given  to  me  on  the  other  side  in  saying  that 
it  makes  me  very  happy  to  get  home  again.  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  that  I  was  not  very  deeply  touched  by  the 
cries  that  came  from  the  great  crowds  on  the  other 
side. 

But  I  want  to  say  to  you  in  all  honesty  that  I  felt 
them  to  be  a  call  of  greeting  to  you  rather  than  to  me. 
I  did  not  feel  that  the  greeting  was  personal.  I  had  in 
my  heart  the  overcrowning  pride  of  being  your  repre- 
sentative and  of  receiving  the  plaudits  of  men  every- 
where who  felt  that  your  hearts  beat  with  theirs  in  the 
cause  of  liberty. 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  tone  in  the  voices  of 
those  great  crowds.  It  was  not  a  tone  of  mere  greet- 
ing; it  was  not  a  tone  of  mere  generous  welcome — it 
was  the  calling  of  comrade  to  comrade,  the  cries  that 
come  from  men  who  say:  "We  have  waited  for  this 
day  when  the  friends  of  liberty  should  come  across  the 
sea  and  shake  hands  with  us,  to  see  that  a  new  world 


GKEAT  SPEECHES  419 

was  constructed  upon  a  new  basis  and  foundation  of 
justice  and  right. ' ' 

I  can't  tell  you  the  inspiration  that  came  from  the 
sentiments  that  came  out  of  those  simple  voices  of  the 
crowd.  And  the  proudest  thing  I  have  to  report  to  you 
is  that  this  great  country  of  ours  is  trusted  throughout 
the  world. 

I  have  not  come  to  report  the  proceedings  or  the 
results  of  the  proceedings  of  the  peace  conference — that 
would  be  premature. 

I  can  say  that  I  have  received  very  happy  impres- 
sions from  this  conference,  the  impression  that  while 
there  are  many  differences  of  judgment,  while  there  are 
some  divergencies  of  object,  there  is  nevertheless  a  com- 
mon spirit  and  a  common  realization  of  the  necessity  of 
setting  up  new  standards  of  right  in  the  world. 

Because  the  men  who  are  in  conference  in  Paris  real- 
ize as  keenly  as  any  American  can  realize  that  they 
are  not  the  masters  of  their  people;  that  they  are  the 
servants  of  their  people  and  that  the  spirit  of  their 
people  has  awakened  to  a  new  purpose  and  a  new 
conception  of  their  power  to  realize  that  purpose,  and 
that  no  man  dare  go  home  from  that  conference  and 
report  anything  less  noble  than  was  expected  of  it. 

The  conference  seems  to  you  to  go  slowly ;  from  day 
to  day  in  Paris  it  seems  to  go  slowly;  but  I  wonder 
if  you  realize  the  complexity  of  the  task  which  it  has 
undertaken.  It  seems  as  if  the  settlements  of  this  war 
affect,  and  affect  directly,  every  great,  and  I  some- 
times think  every  small,  nation  in  the  world,  and  no 
one  decision  can  prudently  be  made  which  is  not  prop- 
erly linked  in  with  the  great  series  of  other  decisions 
which  must  accompany  it. 

And  it  must  be  reckoned  in  with  the  final  result  if 


420  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

the  real  quality  and  character  of  that  result  is  to  be 
properly  judged. 

What  we  are  doing  is  to  hear  the  whole  case;  hear 
it  from  the  mouths  of  the  men  most  interested;  hear 
it  from  those  who  are  officially  commissioned  to  state 
it;  hear  the  rival  claims,  hear  the  claims  that  affect 
new  nationalities;  that  affect  new  areas  of  the  world; 
that  affect  new  commercial  and  economical  connec- 
tions that  have  been  established  by  the  great  world 
war  through  which  we  have  gone. 

And  I  have  been  struck  by  the  moderateness  of  those 
who  have  represented  national  claims. 

I  can  testify  that  I  have  nowhere  seen  the  gleam  of 
passion.  I  have  seen  earnestness,  I  have'  seen  tears 
come  to  the  eyes  of  men  who  pleaded  for  downtrodden 
people  whom  they  were  privileged  to  speak  for;  but 
they  were  not  the  tears  of  anguish,  they  were  the  tears 
of  ardent  hope. 

And  I  don't  see  how  any  man  can  fail  to  have  been 
subdued  by  these  pleas,  subdued  to  this  feeling,  that 
he  was  not  there  to  assert  an  individual  judgment  of 
his  own,  but  to  try  to  assist  the  case  of  humanity. 

And  in  the  midst  of  it  all  every  interest  seeks  out 
first  of  all,  when  it  reaches  Paris,  the  representatives  of 
the  United  States?  Why?  Because,  and  I  think  I  am 
stating  the  most  wonderful  fact  in  history — because 
there  is  no  nation  in  Europe  that  suspects  the  motives 
of  the  United  States. 

"Was  there  ever  so  wonderful  a  thing  seen  before? 
Was  there  ever  so  moving  a  thing?  Was  there  ever  any 
fact  that  so  bound  the  nation  that  had  won  that  esteem 
forever  to  deserve  it? 

I  would  not  have  you  understand  that  the  great  men 
who  represent  the  other  nations  there  in  conference  are 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  421 

disesteemed  by  those  who  know  them.  Quite  the  con- 
trary. 

But  you  understand  that  the  nations  of  Europe  have 
again  and  again  clashed  with  one  another  in  competi- 
tive interest.  It  is  impossible  for  men  to  forget  those 
sharp  issues  that  were  drawn  between  them  in  times 
past. 

It  is  impossible  for  men  to  believe  that  all  ambitions 
have  all  of  a  sudden  been  foregone.  They  remember 
territory  that  was  coveted;  they  remember  rights  that 
it  was  attempted  to  extort;  they  remember  political 
ambitions  which  it  was  attempted  to  realize — and, 
while  they  believe  that  men  have  come  into  a  different 
temper,  they  cannot  forget  these  things,  and  so  they 
do  not  resort  to  one  another  for  a  dispassionate  view 
of  the  matters  in  controversy. 

They  resort  to  that  nation  which  has  won  the  en- 
viable distinction  of  being  regarded  as  the  friend  of 
mankind. 

Whenever  it  is  desired  to  send  a  small  force  of  sol- 
diers to  occupy  a  piece  of  territory  where  it  is  thought 
nobody  else  will  be  welcome,  they  ask  for  American 
soldiers. 

And  where  other  soldiers  would  be  looked  upon  with 
suspicion  and  perhaps  met  with  resistance,  the  Amer- 
ican soldier  is  welcomed  with  acclaim. 

I  have  had  so  many  grounds  for  pride  on  the  other 
side  of  the  water  that  I  am  very  thankful  that  they 
are  not  grounds  for  personal  pride.  I'd  be  the  most 
stuck  up  man  in  the  world. 

And  it  has  been  an  infinite  pleasure  to  me  to  see  those 
gallant  soldiers  of  ours,  of  whom  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  made  me  the  proud  commander.  You 
may  be  proud  of  the  26th  Division  [Boston  and  New 


422  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

England  troops],  but  I  commanded  the  26th  Division, 
and  see  what  they  did  under  my  direction !  And  every- 
body praises  the  American  soldier  with  the  feeling  that 
in  praising  him  he  is  subtracting  from  the  credit  of  no 
one  else. 

I  have  been  searching  for  the  fundamental  fact  that 
converted  Europe  to  believe  in  us.  Before  this  war 
Europe  did  not  believe  in  us  as  she  does  now. 

She  did  not  believe  in  us  throughout  the  first  three 
years  of  the  war.-  She  seems  really  to  have  believed 
that  we  were  holding  off  because  we  thought  we  could 
make  more  by  staying  out  than  by  going  in. 

And  all  of  a  sudden,  in  a  short  eighteen  months,  the 
whole  verdict  is  reversed.  There  can  be  but  one  ex- 
planation for  it. 

They  saw  what  we  did — that  without  making  a  sin- 
gle claim  we  put  all  our  men  and  all  our  means  at  the 
disposal  of  those  who  were  fighting  for  their  homes,  in 
the  first  instance,  but  for  a  cause,  the  cause  of  human 
rights  and  justice,  and  that  we  went  in,  not  to  support 
their  national  claims,  but  to  support  the  great  cause 
which  they  held  in  common. 

And  when  they  saw  that  America  not  only  held  ideals, 
but  acted  ideals,  they  were  converted  to  America  and 
became  firm  partisans  of  those  ideals. 

I  met  a  group  of  scholars  when  I  was  in  Paris — some 
gentlemen  from  one  of  the  Greek  universities  who  had 
come  to  see  me,  and  in  whose  presence,  or,  rather,  in 
the  presence  of  whose  traditions  of  learning,  I  felt  very 
young  indeed. 

I  told  them  that  I  had  one  of  the  delightful  revenges 
that  sometimes  come  to  a  man. 

All  my  life  I  had  heard  men  speak  with  a  sort  of 
condescension  of  ideals  and  of  idealists,  and  particularly 


GEEAT  SPEECHES  423 

those  separated,  cloistered  persons  whom  they  choose 
to  term  academic,  who  were  in  the  habit  of  uttering 
ideals  in  the  free  atmosphere  when  they  clash  with  no- 
body in  particular. 

And,  I  said,  I  have  had  this  sweet  revenge.  Speaking 
with  perfect  frankness  in  the  name  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  I  have  uttered  as  the  objects  of  this 
great  war  ideals,  and  nothing  but  ideals,  and  the  war 
has  been  won  by  that  inspiration. 

Men  were  fighting  with  tense  muscle  and  lowered 
head  until  they  came  to  realize  those  things,  feeling 
they  were  fighting  for  their  lives  and  their  country, 
and  when  these  accents  of  what  it  was  all  about  reached 
them  from  America  they  lifted  their  heads,  they  raised 
their  eyes  to  heaven,  when  they  saw  men  in  khaki  com- 
ing across  the  sea  in  the  spirit  of  crusaders,  and  they 
found  that  these  were  strange  men,  reckless  of  danger 
not  only,  but  reckless  because  they  seemed  to  see  some- 
thing that  made  danger  worth  while. 

Men  have  testified  to  me  in  Europe  that  our  men 
were  possessed  by  something  that  they  could  only  call 
a  religious  fervor.  They  were  not  like  any  of  the  other 
soldiers. 

They  had  a  vision,  they  had  a  dream,  and  they  were 
fighting  in  the  dream,  and,  fighting  in  the  dream,  they 
turned  the  whole  tide  of  battle,  and  it  never  came  back. 

One  of  our  American  humorists,  meeting  the  criti- 
cism that  American  soldiers  were  not  trained  long 
enough,  said:  "It  takes  only  half  as  long  to  train  an 
American  soldier  as  any  other,  because  you  only  have 
to  train  him  one  way ' ' ;  and  he  did  only  go  one  way,  and 
he  never  came  back  until  he  could  do  it  when  he 
pleased. 

And  now  do  you  realize  that  this  confidence  we  have 


424  PEESIDENT  WILSON'S 

established  throughout  the  world  imposes  a  burden 
upon  us — if  you  choose  to  call  it  a  burden? 

It  is  one  of  those  burdens  which  any  nation  ought 
to  be  proud  to  carry. 

Any  man  who  resists  the  present  tides  that  run  in 
the  world  will  find  himself  thrown  upon  a  shore  so  high 
and  barren  that  it  will  seem  as  if  he  had  been  separated 
from  his  human  kind  forever. 

The  Europe  I  left  the  other  day  was  full  of  some- 
thing that  it  had  never  felt  fill  its  heart  so  full  before. 
It  was  full  of  hope. 

The  Europe  of  the  second  year  of  the  war,  the  Eu- 
rope of  the  third  year  of  the  war,  was  sinking  to  a  sort 
of  stubborn  desperation.  They  did  not  see  any  great 
thing  to  be  achieved  even  when  the  war  should  be  won. 
They  hoped  there  would  be  some  salvage;  they  hoped 
that  they  could  clear  their  territories  of  invading 
armies ;  they  hoped  they  could  set  up  their  homes  and 
start  their  industries  afresh.  But  they  thought  it  would 
simply  be  the  resumption  of  the  old  life  that  Europe 
had  led — led  in  fear,  led  in  anxiety,  led  in  constant  sus- 
picious watchfulness.  They  never  dreamed  that  it 
would  be  a  Europe  of  settled  peace  and  of  justified 
hope. 

And  now  these  ideals  have  wrought  this  new  magic, 
that  all  the  peoples  of  Europe  are  buoyed  up  and  con- 
fident in  the  spirit  of  hope,  because  they  believe  that 
we  are  at  the  eve  of  a  new  age  in  the  world  when  na- 
tions will  understand  one  another,  when  nations  will 
support  one  another  in  every  just  cause,  when  nations 
will  unite  every  moral  and  every  physical  strength  to 
see  that  the  right  shall  prevail. 

If  America  were  at  this  juncture  to  fail  the  world, 
what  would  come  of  it?  I  do  not  mean  any  disrespect 


GREAT  SPEECHES  425 

to  any  other  great  people  when  I  say  that  America  is 
the  hope  of  the  world;  and  if  she  does  not  justify  that 
hope  the  results  are  unthinkable.  Men  will  be  thrown 
back  upon  the  bitterness  of  disappointment  not  only, 
but  the  bitterness  of  despair.  All  nations  will  be  set 
up  as  hostile  camps  again;  the  men  at  the  peace  con- 
ference will  go  home  with  their  heads  upon  their 
breasts,  knowing  that  they  have  failed — for  they  were 
bidden  not  to  come  home  from  there  until  they  did 
something  more  than  sign  a  treaty  of  peace. 

Suppose  we  sign  the  treaty  of  peace  and  that  it  is  the 
most  satisfactory  treaty  of  peace  that  the  confusing 
elements  of  the  modern  world  will  afford  and  go  home 
and  think  about  our  labors ;  we  will  know  that  we  have 
left  written  upon  the  historic  table  at  Versailles,  upon 
which  Vergennes  and  Benjamin  Franklin  wrote  their 
names,  nothing  but  a  modern  scrap  of  paper;  no  na- 
tions united  to  defend  it,  no  great  forces  combined  to 
make  it  good,  no  assurance  given  to  the  downtrodden 
and  fearful  people  of  the  world  that  they  shall  be  safe. 
Any  man  who  thinks  that  America  will  take  part  in 
giving  the  world  any  such  rebuff  and  disappointment 
as  that  does  not  know  America. 

I  invite  him  to  test  the  sentiments  of  the  nation.  We 
set  this  up  to  make  men  free  and  we  did  not  confine  our 
conception  and  purpose  to  America  and  now  we  will 
make  men  free.  If  we  did  not  do  that  the  fame  of 
America  would  be  gone  and  all  her  powers  would  be 
dissipated.  She  then  would  have  to  keep  her  power 
for  those  narrow,  selfish,  provincial  purposes  which 
seem  so  dear  to  some  minds  that  have  no  sweep  beyond 
the  nearest  horizon. 

I  should  welcome  no  sweeter  challenge  than  that.  I 
have  fighting  blood  in  me  and  it  is  sometimes  a  delight 


426  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

to  let  it  have  scope,  but  if  it  is  a  challenge  on  this  oc- 
casion it  will  be  an  indulgence. 

Think  of  the  picture,  think  of  the  utter  blackness 
that  would  fall  on  the  world.  America  has  failed! 
America  made  a  little  essay  at  generosity  and  then 
withdrew. 

America  said:  "We  are  your  friends,"  but  it  was 
only  for  today,  not  for  tomorrow.  America  said: 
"Here  is  our  power  to  vindicate  right"  and  then  the 
next  day  said:  "Let  right  take  care  of  itself  and  we 
will  take  care  of  ourselves."  America  said:  "We  set 
up  a  light  to  lead  men  along  the  paths  of  liberty,  but 
we  have  lowered  it.  It  is  intended  only  to  light  our 
own  path."  We  set  up  a  great  ideal  of  liberty  and  then 
was  said :  * '  Liberty  is  a  thing  that  you  must  win  for 
yourself.  Do  not  call  upon  us, ' '  and  think  of  the  world 
that  we  would  leave. 

Do  you  realize  how  many  new  nations  are  going  to  be 
set  up  in  the  presence  of  old  and  powerful  nations  in 
Europe  and  left  there,  if  left  by  us,  without  a  disinter- 
ested friend? 

Do  you  believe  in  the  Polish  cause,  as  I  do  ?  Are  you 
going  to  set  up  Poland,  immature,  inexperienced,  as 
yet  unorganized,  and  leave  her  with  a  circle  of  armies 
around  her?  Do  you  believe  in  the  aspiration  of  the 
Czecho-Slovaks  and  the  Jugo-Slavs  as  I  do?  Do  you 
know  how  many  powers  would  be  quick  to  pounce  upon 
them  if  there  were  not  the  guarantees  of  the  world  be- 
hind their  liberty? 

Have  you  thought  of  the  suffering  of  Armenia  ?  You 
poured  out  your  money  to  help  succor  the  Armenians 
after  they  suffered,  now  set  your  strength  so  that  they 
shall  never  suffer  again. 

The  arrangements  of  the  present  peace  cannot  stand 


GREAT  SPEECHES  427 

a  generation  unless  they  are  guaranteed  by  the  united 
forces  of  the  civilized  world.  And  if  we  do  not  guar- 
antee them,  cannot  you  not  see  the  picture?  Your 
hearts  have  instructed  you  where  the  burden  of  this 
war  fell.  It  did  not  fall  upon  the  national  treasuries, 
it  did  not  fall  upon  the  instruments  of  administration, 
it  did  not  fall  upon  the  resources  of  the  nations.  It 
fell  upon  the  victims'  homes  everywhere,  where  women 
were  toiling  in  hope  that  their  men  would  come  back. 

When  I  think  of  the  homes  upon  which  dull  despair 
would  settle  were  this  great  hope  disappointed,  I  should 
wish  for  my  part  never  to  have  had  America  play  any 
part  whatever  in  this  attempt  to  emancipate  the  world. 
But  I  talk  as  if  it  were  any  question.  I  have  no  more 
doubt  of  the  verdict  of  America  in  this  matter  than  I 
have  doubt  of  the  blood  that  is  in  me. 

And  so,  my  fellow  citizens,  I  have  come  back  to  re- 
port progress,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  the  progress 
is  going  to  stop  short  of  the  goal.  The  nations  of  the 
world  have  set  their  heads  now  to  do  a  great  thing, 
and  they  are  not  going  to  slacken  their  purpose. 

And  when  I  speak  of  the  nations  of  the  world  I  do 
not  speak  of  the  governments  of  the  world.  I  speak 
of  the  peoples  who  constitute  the  nations  of  the  world. 
They  are  in  the  saddle,  and  they  are  going  to  see  to  it 
that  if  their  present  governments  do  not  do  their  will, 
some  other  governments  shall.  And  the  secret  is  out, 
and  the  present  governments  know  it. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  harmony  to  be  got  out  of 
common  knowledge.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  sympathy 
to  be  got  out  of  living  in  the  same  atmosphere,  and 
except  for  the  differences  of  languages,  which  puzzled 
my  American  ear  very  sadly,  I  could  have  believed  I 
was  at  home  in  France  or  in  Italy  or  in  England  when 


428  PRESIDENT  WILSON'S 

I  was  on  the  streets,  when  I  was  in  the  presence  of  the 
crowds,  when  I  was  in  great  halls  where  men  were 
gathered  together  irrespective  of  class.  I  do  not  feel 
quite  as  much  at  home  there  as  I  do  here,  but  I  felt 
that  now,  at  any  rate,  after  this  storm  of  war  had 
cleared  the  air,  men  were  seeing  eye  to  eye  everywhere 
and  that  these  were  the  kind  of  folks  who  would  under- 
stand what  the  kind  of  folks  at  home  would  understand 
and  that  they  were  thinking  the  same  things. 

I  feel  about  you  as  I  am  reminded  of  a  story  of  that 
excellent  wit  and  good  artist,  Oliver  Herford,  who  one 
day,  sitting  at  luncheon  at  his  club,  was  slapped  vigor- 
ously on  the  back  by  a  man  whom  he  did  not  know 
very  well.  He  said:  "Oliver,  old  boy,  how  are  you?" 
He  looked  at  him  rather  coldly.  He  said:  "I  don't 
know  your  name,  I  don't  know  your  face,  but  your 
manners  are  very  familiar. ' '  And  I  must  say  that  your 
manners  are  very  familiar,  and,  let  me  add,  very  de- 
lightful. 

It  is  a  great  comfort  for  one  thing  to  realize  that 
you  all  understand  the  language  I  am  speaking.  A 
friend  of  mine  said  that  to  talk  through  an  interpreter 
was  like  witnessing  the  compound  fracture  of  an  idea. 
But  the  beauty  of  it  is  that,  whatever  the  impediments 
of  the  channel  of  communication,  the  idea  is  the  same ; 
that  it  gets  registered,  and  it  gets  registered  in  respon- 
sive hearts  and  receptive  purposes. 

I  have  come  back  for  a  strenuous  attempt  to  transact 
business  for  a  little  while  in  America,  but  I  have  really 
come  back  to  say  to  you  in  all  soberness  and  honesty, 
that  I  have  been  trying  my  best  to  speak  your  thoughts. 

When  I  sample  myself  I  think  I  find  that  I  am  a 
typical  American,  and  if  I  sample  deep  enough  and  get 
down  to  what  is  probably  the  true  stuff  of  a  man,  then 


GREAT  SPEECHES  429 

I  have  hope  that  it  is  part  of  the  stuff  that  is  like  the 
other  fellows  at  home. 

And,  therefore,  probing  deep  in  my  heart  and  trying 
to  see  the  things  that  are  right  without  regard  to  the 
things  that  may  be  debated  as  expedient,  I  feel  that  I 
am  interpreting  the  purpose  and  the  thought  of  Amer- 
ica, and  in  loving  America  I  find  I  have  joined  the  great 
majority  of  my  fellow  men  throughout  the  world. 


TO  THE  NEW  ARMY 

Message    of    President    Wilson    to    Men    Called    to 
Nation's   Service 

"The  White  House, 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Sept.  3,  1917. 

' '  To  the  Soldiers  of  the  National  Army : 

"You  are  undertaking  a  great  duty.  The  heart  of  the 
whole  country  is  with  you.  Everything  that  you  do  will 
be  watched  with  the  deepest  interest  and  with  the  deepest 
solicitude  not  only  by  those  who  are  near  and  dear  to  you, 
but  by  the  whole  nation  besides.  For  this  great  war 
draws  us  all  together,  makes  us  all  comrades  and  brothers, 
as  all  true  Americans  felt  themselves  to  be  when  we  first 
made  good  our  national  independence.  The  eyes  of  all 
the  world  will  be  upon  you,  because  you  are 'in  some 
special  sense  the  soldiers  of  freedom.  Let  it  be  your  pride, 
therefore,  to  show  all  men  everywhere  not  only  what 
good  soldiers  you  are,  but  also  what  good  men  you  are, 
keeping  yourselves  fit  and  straight  in  everything  and 
pure  and  clean  through  and  through.  Let  us  set  for 
ourselves  a  standard  so  high  that  it  will  be  a  glory  to  live 
up  to  it  and  add  a  new  laurel  to  the  crown  of  America. 
My  affectionate  confidence  goes  with  you  in  every  battle 
and  every  test.  God  keep  you  and  guide  you ! 

"WOODROW  WILSON." 


Autographs  of  Members 

of  the 
House  of  Representatives, 


ALABAMA 


^  UZ*L4^S*rf&£~^*i~^ 

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FLORIDA 


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PHILIPPINES. 


ALASKA. 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


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